ELECTROPORATION-MEDIATED GENE-TRANSFER IN CARDIAC TISSUE

Delivery of genes or macromolecules to cardiovascular tissues provides new therapeutic opportunities for the treatment of many acquired and inherited diseases. To investigate electroporation as a delivery metho d in cardiac tissue, embryonic chick hearts were studied for uptake of propidium iodide (PI) or DNA encoding either green fluorescent protei n (GFP) or luciferase following electrical shock. PI uptake increased monotonically from 6% of heart tissue after 3 shocks to 77% with 12 sh ocks, GFP and luciferase expression varied in proportion to shock numb er, with detectable levels in all electrically treated hearts. Thus, e lectroporation promotes uptake of PI and DNA in cardiac tissue, sugges ting further application of this method for therapeutic genes. (C) 199 8 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.