ABSTRACT
Objective To deliver an exogenous therapeutic gene—hTGF ?1 to rabbit lumbar intervertebral disc in vivo by adenovirus vector and observe the expression of the exogenous therapeutic gene. Methods 20?l of 0 01?mol/L PBS, with or without adenovirus (6?10 6pfu) carrying TGF ?1 gene (Ad/CMV hTGF ?1) which were constructed by our laboratory, was injected directly into nucleus pulposus tissues of lumber discs of mature New Zealand white rabbits. Immunohistochemical staining for human transforming growth factor ?1 was performed on the rabbit disc tissues in different periods after operation. A half quantitation for immunohistochemical staining was performed by VIDAS analysis system. Results Discs injected with Ad/CMV hTGF ?1 exhibited extensive and intense positive immunohistochemical staining for transforming growth factor ?1 from 1 week to 12 weeks after operation, and positive pellets in nucleus pulposus cells in 4th day group, while the control groups(intact group and PBS group) showed negative or weakly positive immunohistochemical staining. The OPTDM was significantly increased in the discs injected with Ad/CMV hTGF?1 compared to the contact discs or the discs injected with only PBS( P