Gene Transfer into Mammalian Cells Using Calcium Phosphate and DEAE-Dextran

Simplicity and cost are just two of the factors that have sustained the popularity of calcium phosphate and, to a lesser extent, DEAE-dextran transfection methods. However, notwithstanding these factors, the calcium phosphate method, especially use of N,N-bis (2-hydroxyethyl)-2-aminoethanesulfonic acid (the BES variation), has proven to be the only method sufficient for the cotransfection of multiple plasmids into a wide variety of cell types. Although not as widely used today, DEAE-dextran-mediated transfection is a highly reproducible method for transient expression of a foreign gene.