Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Intravitreal Injections in the Ovine Eye
Published on: July 5, 2022
AAVrh-10 transduces outer retinal cells in rodents and rabbits following intravitreal administration
Yong Zeng1, Haohua Qian2, Zhijian Wu2
1Section on Translational Research for Retinal and Macular Degeneration, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Abstract:
Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) has been widely used for gene delivery in animal models and successfully applied in clinical trials for treating inherited retinal disease. Although subretinal delivery of AAVs can effectively transduce photoreceptors and/or retinal pigmental epithelium (RPE), cells most affected by inherited retinal diseases, the procedure is invasive and complicated, and only delivers the gene to a limited retinal area. AAVs can also be delivered intravitreally to the retina, a much less invasive nonsurgical procedure. However, intravitreal administration of non-modified AAV serotypes tends to transduce only ganglion cells and inner nuclear layer cells. To date, most non-modified AAV serotypes that have been identified are incapable of efficiently transducing photoreceptors and/or RPE when delivered intravitreally. In this study, we investigate the retinal tropism of AAVrh10 vector administered by intravitreal injection to mouse, rat, and rabbit eyes. Our results demonstrate that AAVrh10 is capable of transducing not only inner retinal cells, but also outer retinal cells in all three species, though the transduction efficiency in rabbit was low. In addition, AAVrh10 preferentially transduced outer retinal cells in mouse models of retinal disease. Therefore, AAVrh10 vector could be a useful candidate to intravitreally deliver genes to photoreceptor and RPE cells.
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