The expression and functional activity of multiple drug resistance (MDR1) gene in human normal bone marrow CD34+ cells was observed. Human normal bone marrow CD34+ cells were enriched with magnetic cell sorting (MACS) system, and then liposome-mediated MDR1 gene was transferred into bone marrow CD34+ cells. Fluorescence-activated cell sorter was used to evaluate the expression and functional activity of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) encoded by MDR1 gene. It was found that the purity of bone marrow CD34+ cells was approximately (91 +/- 4.56)% and recovery rate was (72.3 +/- 2.36)% by MACS. The expression of P-gp in the transfected CD34+ cells was obviously higher than that in non-transfected CD34+ cells. The amount of P-gp in non-transfected CD34+ cells was (11.2 +/- 2.2)%, but increased to (23.6 +/- 2.34)% 48 h after gene transfection (P<0.01). The amount of P-gp was gradually decreased to the basic level one week later. The accumulation and extrusion assays showed that the overexpression of P-gp could efflux Rh-123 out of cells and there was low fluorescence within the transfected cells. The functional activity of P-gp could be inhibited by 10 microg/ml verapamil. It was suggested that the transient and highly effective expression and functional activity of P-gp could be obtained by liposome-mediated MRD1 transferring into human normal bone marrow CD34+ cells.