Transduction of hippocampal CA1 by adenovirus in vivo

Replication-deficient adenoviral recombinants were assessed for in vivo transduction of rat hippocampal CA1 cells. Results show that efficient widespread transduction of CA1 in vivo was rapidly achievable and was sustained for more than 5 weeks. Assessment of electrophysiological properties in acute hippocampal slices showed that synaptic functioning and mechanisms involved in long-term potentiation (LTP) were preserved for minimally 5 weeks postinfection. Hence, adenovirus-mediated gene transfer in vivo promises to be a valuable tool for dissecting molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, such as LTP and long-term depression (LTD).