Retroviral-mediated gene transfer into early passage cultures of ovine neuroectodermal, epithelial and mesenchymal...

The relative efficiency of retroviral-mediated gene transfer into early passage cultures of different tissues of fetal lamb was investigated. Cells which originate from different embryonic germ layers showed marked differences in infectibility in the descending order: brain (neuroectoderm) > kidney (nephrogenic mesoderm) > muscle (somite mesoderm), lung (endoderm) > skin (ectoderm). In an attempt to generate immortalized brain cell lines, primary cultures were transduced with various oncogenes. A wide variety of morphologically distinct, dividing cells, including neurone-like and glial-like cells, were obtained using some oncogenes but also using the vector without an inserted oncogene.