Method for Intracellular Injection by Cell Fusion using Erythrocyte Ghosts

Abstract

A new technique for intracellular microinjection was developed with mammalian erythrocyte ghosts as "syringes" making use of the cell fusion of Sendai virus (HVJ). By "gradual" hemolysis hemoglobin was replaced by foreign substances without diminishing the fusion capacity of the erythrocyte membrane. HVJ-mediated cell fusion between the erythrocyte ghosts containing foreign substances and the target cells resulted in injections of substances into the cytoplasm of the target cells. With this relatively simple technique, definite amounts of substances were injected into single cells at high frequency.