Cho-Arg (trifluoroacetate salt)

Cho-Arg is a steroid-based cationic lipid that contains a cholesterol skeleton coupled to an L-arginine head group.¹ It forms a complex with plasmid DNA and decreases plasmid DNA migration in an agarose-gel retardant assay at charge ratios greater than or equal to 4. Cho-Arg facilitates transfection of plasmid DNA into H1299 and HeLa cells in the presence or absence of fetal bovine serum, an effect that is reversed by the lipid raft-mediated endocytosis inhibitor methyl-β-cyclodextrin and the caveolae-mediated endocytosis inhibitor genistein . It is cytotoxic to H1299 cells (IC₅₀ = 88.5 μg/ml).

1. Sheng, R., Wang, Z., Luo, T., et al. Skeleton-controlled pDNA delivery of renewable steroid-based cationic lipids, the endocytosis pathway analysis and intracellular localization Int. J. Mol. Sci. 19(2),(2018).