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Updated: Jun 12, 2026
Investigating Mammalian Axon Regeneration: In Vivo Electroporation of Adult Mouse Dorsal Root Ganglion
Published on: September 1, 2018
Sonoporation-mediated gene transfer into adult rat dorsal root ganglion cells
Chung-Ren Lin1, Kuan-Hung Chen, Chien-Hui Yang
1Department of Anesthesiology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Kaohsiung Medical Center, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. chungren@ntu.edu.tw
Background:
Gene transfer into many cell types has been successfully used to develop alternative and adjunct approaches to conventional medical treatment. However, effective transfection of postmitotic neurons remains a challenge. The aim of this study was to develop a method for gene transfer into rat primary dorsal root ganglion neurons using sonoporation.
Methods:
Dissociated cells from adult rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells were sonicated for 1-8 s at 2.5-10 W to determine the optimal ultrasound duration and power for gene transfection and cell survival. Transfection efficiency was compared between sonoporation, liposome and lentiviral vector gene transfer techniques.
Results:
The optimum ultrasound intensity was 5 W for 2 s and yielded an efficiency of gene transfection of 31% and a survival rate of 35%.
Conclusions:
Sonoporation can be optimized to minimize cell death and yield a high percentage of transfected neurons and that this technique can be easily applied to primary cultures of rat dorsal root ganglion neurons.
