Lipid-based transfection of siRNA is a technique routinely used to investigate gene function in experiments using mammalian cells cultured in vitro. Due to innate differences in cellular characteristics, the efficiency of lipid-based transfection is variable across cell types. Pluripotent cells which exist in a "primed" state such as human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and mouse epiblast stem cells (mEpiSCs) are notorious for being refractory to lipid-based transfection systems. Herein we describe a forward transfection protocol which we routinely use to achieve upwards of 70% transfection efficiency rates in mEpiSCs. Our protocol also includes a suggested transfection timeline and details pertaining to the techniques we use to validate transfection success.
Keywords: Epiblast; Lipid; Lipofectamine; Mouse; Small interfering RNA; Transfection; mEpiSC; siRNA.
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