Introduction of DNA into chick embryos by in ovo electroporation

Gene transfer by in ovo electroporation has been applied to the study of de velopmental biology, especially to central nervous system (CNS) development . Plasmids are injected into the neural tube of stage 10 chick embryos, and a 25-V 25-msec square pulse is applied five times. Since DNA moves toward the anode, the cathode side of the neural tube is transfected, and the cath ode side is used as the control. Expression of translation product of the i ntroduced DNA is observed 2 h after electroporation, peaks around 20 h afte r electroporation and then weakens. Expression is transient when plasmids a re used as expression vectors, but they are very suitable for studying earl y developmental events (e.g., gene expression cascades or interactions). Mi sexpression of Pax-5 is shown as an example, (C) 2001 Academic Press.