Abstract
We have reported that a rapid tail vein injection of a large volume of plasmid DNA solution into a mouse results in high level of transgene expression in the liver. Gene transfer efficiency of this hydrodynamics-based procedure is determined by the combined effect of a large volume and high injection speed. Here, we show that the hydrodynamic injection induces a transient irregularity of heart function, a sharp increase in venous pressure, an enlargement of liver fenestrae, and enhancement of membrane permeability of the hepatocytes. At the cellular level, our results suggest that hepatic delivery by the hydrodynamic injection is accomplished by the generation of membrane pores in the hepatocytes.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge that the term ‘hydroporation’ was originally proposed by Dr Ning-Sun Yang at the Institute of BioAgricultural Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. This work was supported in part by grants from NIH CA72529 to D Liu, HL60652 to X Gao, and HL59956, HL71643 to D Dean.
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Zhang, G., Gao, X., Song, Y. et al. Hydroporation as the mechanism of hydrodynamic delivery. Gene Ther 11, 675–682 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gt.3302210
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gt.3302210
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