ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To obtain seed cells for cartilage repair through constructing recombinant human transforming growth factor beta3 vector (hTGF-beta3) and transfecting it into rat's precartilaginous stem cells (PSCs).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Gene engineering technique was introduced to construct eukaryotic expression plasmid pcDNA3.1 (+)-hTGF-beta3. PSCs of rats were isolated and purified with method of immunomagnetic microbeads. Then PSCs were cotransfected with plasmid hTGF-beta3 and pcDNA3.1 (+)-enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) by liner polyethyleneimine (PEI). And 48 hours later the transient expression of EGFP was observed under a fluorescence microscope, and the expression of hTGF-beta3 was detected with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The sequences of the recombinants were consistent with that from Genebank. Cotransfection of EGFP provided fast visual confirmation of successful transduction. The hTGF-beta3 mRNA and protein expression could be detected by RT-PCR and ELISA.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The recombinant plasmid is correctly constructed and successfully transfected into rat's PSCs, which is an important step to treat epiphyseal injury or other osteo-cartilage diseases with transgenic therapy.</p>