Dear Alessandra Russolillo,

You may try Rat-1 cell line which is available at ATCC. It is a fibroblast cell line derived from the Fisher 344 rat embryo. This fibroblast cell line is known for its ease of transfection with calcium phosphate. Primary rat fibroblast cell lines can also be successfully transfected using calcium phosphate, though optimization may be required. Some of them are the rat primary dermal fibroblasts isolated from Sprague-Dawley rat skin and rat primary lung fibroblasts isolated from neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats.

Best,

Commonly used and relatively easy-to-transfect rat cell lines include C6 (rat glioma) and NRK-52E (normal rat kidney epithelial) cells. Among these, C6 cells are often reported to yield moderate to good transfection efficiency with calcium phosphate, though the method is generally less efficient in rat cells compared to human lines. You may need to optimize parameters like DNA amount, pH of HEPES-buffered saline, and cell confluency to improve efficiency. If calcium phosphate proves inefficient, consider using lipofection or electroporation for better results.