The Role of Glucocorticoids in the Transfection of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells

Tissue Engineering (TE) is a complex field of study involving combinations of cells, biomaterials and growth factors to repair or replace damaged tissues. So far, very little is
known about the fate of the transplanted cells over tissue repair/regeneration. In great extent, this is due to the lack of appropriate cell tracking methodologies after
transplantation. Moreover, the majority of techniques used to monitor biological responses in TE approaches rely on destructive and laborious procedures that provide only
endpoint information or on viral particles, thus impairing research progression and potential clinical translations due to safety concerns.
It is known that priming with certain pharmacological agents, namely glucocorticoids, prior to non-viral transfection procedures increases hASCs transfection efficiency due to
a transient break in barriers to gene delivery . The mechanism behind this increment of transfection efficiency is not well described yet. Herein, our aim was to evaluate the
effect of cell priming with glucocorticoids in transfection efficiency and normal hASCs features. This strategy can be used later on to develop an improved protocol for non-viral
transient transfection of hASCS.