Biol. Pharm. Bull., 25(4),529-531, April 2002

Notes

Effect of Cationic Liposomes in an in Vitro Transcription and Translation System

Rieko TACHIBANA,^a Hideyoshi HARASHIMA,^b Tatsuhiro ISHIDA,^a Yasuo SHINOHARA,^a Mami HINO,^a Hiroshi TERADA,^a Yoshinobu BABA,a,^c and Hiroshi KIWADA^*,a

Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokushima,^a Shomachi-1, Tokushima 770-8505, Japan, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences,^b Kita 12 Nishi 6, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0812, Japan, and CREST, Japan Science and Technology Corporation,^c Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan.

The effects of cationic liposomes complexed with plasmid DNA on the process of transcription was examined using a recently developed rapid cell free translation system. The findings indicate that the liposome itself inhibited the process when the ratio of DNA/liposome typically used in transfection studies was used.

Key words cationic liposome; transcription; rapid translation system (RTS500); gene delivery