[In vivo electroporation of newborn mouse retina]

In vivo electroporation is the process referred to a transient increase in the permeability of cell membranes upon high electric field pulses and delivery of engineered constructs into cells. Compared with the viral-mediated gene transfer system, the in vivo electroporation technique has several advantages, such as safe, high efficiency, rapid, stable and wide application. Thus, this technique has been widely used in the studies of many tissues or organs, including the eye. Here, we report the application of in vivo electroporation in the newborn mouse retina. DNA plasmid of GFP expression vector with high concentration was directly injected into the subretinal space of neonatal mouse pups. The DNA was then transfected into the retinal cells after several pulses of high voltage. Transfected GFP allowed clear visualization of cell morphologies in cryo-sections and the GFP was highly expressed in retinal outer nuclear layer. The results showed that this technique can effectively transfer the genes into retinal cells. In vivo electroporation will be a useful tool for the study of retinal development and function.