Research article
A visible, targeted high-efficiency gene delivery and transfection strategy
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* Corresponding author: Liang-Yi Si siliangyi66@163.com
1 Department of Geriatrics, Southwest Hospital, the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
2 Institute of Ultrasound Imaging, The Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing 400010, China
3 BioMolecular Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
BMC Biotechnology 2011, 11:56 doi:10.1186/1472-6750-11-56
Published: 21 May 2011Abstract
Background
To enhance myocardial angiogenic gene expression, a novel gene delivery strategy was tested. Direct intramyocardial injection of an angiogenic gene with microbubbles and insonation were applied in a dog animal model. Dogs received one of the four different treatments in conjunction with either the enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) gene or the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene: gene with microbubbles (MB) and ultrasound (US); gene with US; gene with MB; or the gene alone.
Results
Distribution of MB and the gene in the myocardium was visualized during the experiment. Compared with the EGFP gene group, an average 14.7-fold enhancement in gene expression was achieved in the EGFP+MB/US group (P < 0.01). Compared with the HGF gene group, an average 10.7-fold enhancement in gene expression was achieved in the HGF+MB/US group (P < 0.01). In addition, capillary density increased from 20.8 ± 3.4/mm2 in the HGF gene group to 146.7 ± 31.4/mm2 in HGF+MB/US group (P < 0.01).
Conclusions
Thus, direct intramyocardial injection of an angiogenic gene in conjunction with microbubbles plus insonation synergistically enhances angiogenesis. This method offers an observable gene delivery procedure with enhanced expression efficiency of the delivered gene.