ABSTRACT
We present the influence of treating progeroid fibroblasts with two modified antisense oligonucleotides (ONs) on the nuclear envelope. Two modified ONs were designed to block ribosome binding during translation and spliceosome binding at the cryptic splice site. We analysed the changes in the nuclear morphology of progeria cell nuclei after repetitive transfection with modified ONs as a physical analysis tool for estimating alteration of the gene expression at the protein level. Confocal microscopy was used to image the nuclei, and the nuclear lobulations were quantified to study the changes in the morphology of the nuclear envelope upon treatment. PCR was used to identify the changes in the expression of lamin A and progerin after antisense treatment at the RNA level. We found a significant decrease in the number of nuclear envelope lobulations and a lower progerin expression in progeria cells after transfection with modified ONs.