EGFP gene transfection into the joint synovial tissues of rheumatoid arthritis rats by ultrasound-mediated microbubble destruction / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the feasibility of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) transfection into the joint synovial tissues of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) rats by ultrasound-mediated microbubble destruction.Methods Twenty-eight normal rats were established the RA rat model,four rats were control group,twenty-four rats were categorized into four experimental groupsEGFP,ultrasound +EGFP,microbubbles + EGFP,and ultrasound + microbubbles + EGFP.The last group was irradiated with ultrasound for 10 min after the mixture consisting of 300 μl Sono Vue and 10 μg EGFP was injected into the joint cavity.The rats were sacrificed after 3 days and the joint synovial tissues were collected for EGFP observation under fluorescence microscopy and quantitative analysis by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).Results Comparing with control group,EGFP expression was observed in the rat joint synovial tissues from all groups.However,a strong EGFP expression was observed in the ultrasound + microbubbles +EGFP group.EGFP expression had no statistically significant difference (the P values were 0.89,0.93,and 0.82,respectively,P ＞ 0.05) in the EGFP,ultrasound + EGFP and microbubbles + EGFP groups.However,EGFP expression in the EGFP,ultrasound + EGFP,microbubbles + EGFP groups significantly differed (all P values were ＜0.01) from that in the ultrasound + microbubbles + EGFP group.Conclusions Ultrasound-mediated microbubble destruction can improve EGFP transfection efficiency into the joint synovial tissues of RA rats.