Research Article The Comparative Utility of Viromer RED and Lipofectamine for Transient Gene Introduction into Glial Cells Sudheendra Rao, 1 Alejo A. Morales, 1 and Damien D. Pearse 1,2,3,4 1 he Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA 2 he Departments of Neurological Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA 3 he Neuroscience Program, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA 4 he Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Sudheendra Rao; sudhee26@med.miami.edu Received 24 April 2015; Revised 23 July 2015; Accepted 26 July 2015 Academic Editor: Eiry Kobatake Copyright © 2015 Sudheendra Rao et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. he introduction of genes into glial cells for mechanistic studies of cell function and as a therapeutic for gene delivery is an expanding ield. hough viral vector based systems do exhibit good delivery eiciency and long-term production of the transgene, the need for transient gene expression, broad and rapid gene setup methodologies, and safety concerns regarding in vivo application still incentivize research into the use of nonviral gene delivery methods. In the current study, aviral gene delivery vectors based upon cationic lipid (Lipofectamine 3000) lipoplex or polyethylenimine (Viromer RED) polyplex technologies were examined in cell lines and primary glial cells for their transfection eiciencies, gene expression levels, and toxicity. he transfection eiciencies of polyplex and lipoplex agents were found to be comparable in a limited, yet similar, transfection setting, with or without serum across a number of cell types. However, diferential efects on cell-speciic transgene expression and reduced viability with cargo loaded polyplex were observed. Overall, our data suggests that polyplex technology could perform comparably to the market dominant lipoplex technology in transfecting various cells lines including glial cells but also stress a need for further reinement of polyplex reagents to minimize their efects on cell viability. 1. Introduction Recent studies have challenged our notions on glia : neuron interactions and the role that glia play in normal physiology as well as in the pathology of disease [1–4]. hus we are at the crossroads of reexamining our understanding of the role of glia in the nervous system. Glial cells play important functions in immune modulation and responses to injury including scarring, axon guidance, and remyelination repair. herefore, glial cells from both central (astrocytes, oligoden- drocytes, and microglia) and peripheral (Schwann cells) ner- vous systems are emerging as attractive gene therapy targets in a range of neurological disorders and trauma [5, 6]. Genetic manipulation of glia, to modify their expression of speciic molecules, can thus signiicantly alter their molecular and physiological reactions to the environment, providing a tool for better understanding their function under pathological conditions as well as novel therapeutic targets for neuropro- tection and neurorepair [7–9]. hough viral delivery systems remain at the forefront of gene therapeutic approaches, safety concerns and costs remain signiicant issues. Furthermore, the need for fast development times and transient expression paradigms in vitro and in vivo for gene delivery applications still incentivize research into the use of nonviral gene delivery methods. Nonviral gene delivery methods have improved enormously in recent years and can ofer integration-free expression that is becoming more comparable to that of viral vectors under certain experimental conditions [10]. In targeting glial cells, nonviral genetic manipulation has been performed by physical (ballistic labelling, magnetofection), electrical (electroporation), or chemical methods (cationic polymer, cationic lipid, or calcium phosphate) [11–15]. Despite signiicant research investigation with chem- ical transfection formulations of cationic lipids (forming Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2015, Article ID 458624, 10 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/458624