Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell mediated gene transfer into rat lung / 中华麻醉学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To determine the feasibility of achieving local transgenic expression in the rat lung using bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells ( MSCs) transfected with Lac-Z gene. Methods Primary cultures of bone marrow MSCs from Lewis rats were transfected with the pSV-?-galactosidase control vector and labelled with a fluorescent, membrane impermeable dye DAPI. The transfected and labelled MSCs (5?105 cells/animal) were injected into the jugular vein of syngenetic recipient rats. The animals were killed at 48 h and 8 wk after injection respectively. The lungs, spleens, livers, kidneys and skeletal muscle were then excised and examined under fluorescene microscope. The transgenic expression of Lac-Z gene was detected by incubating with the X-gal chromogen.Results Only a few DAPI labelled MSCs could be identified in the spleen, liver, kidney and skeletal muscle, whereas a large amount of DAPI labelled MSCs could be identified in the lung and most of them lodged in the lung parenchyma and air sac at 48h and 8wk after intravenous injection of transfected MSCs. After incubation with the X-gal chromogen, microscopic examination showed that a large number of MSCs with multiple intense blue staining were scattered throughout the lung. On the contrary only a few cells with blue staining could be identified in the spleen and kidney and no MSCs with blue staining could be seen in the liver pancreas and skeletal muscle. Conclusion Genetically modified MSCs injected into the jugular vein can target the lung effectively and achieve local transgenic expression for a long time.