Abstract
Since light as a stimulus can be controlled both temporally and spatially, photo-irradiation improves both
the endosomal escape of exogenous DNA and DNA release from the complexes with carriers. When a
photo-responsive cationic lipid formed a cell-sized giant vesicle, we observed the photo-isomerization
effect of azobenzene on its shape change. Photoswitching the membrane line tension induced reversible
transitions between a closed sphere and an opened disk with a bilayer pore. In a transfection experiment
using a photoresponsive cationic lipid, UV irradiation improved the transfection efficiency. After the
lipoplexes passed through the plasma membrane by endocytosis, trans to cis isomerization of azobenzene
moiety destabilized the vesicle membrane, thus accelerating not only the membrane fusion of the photoresponsive
lipid vesicles but also the endosomal escape of the exogenous DNA.
