IN-VIVO ADENOVIRUS-MEDIATED GENE-TRANSFER TO NEWBORN RAT RETINAL-PIGMENT EPITHELIAL-CELLS

A successful surgical access to the subretinal space is critical for a chieving adenovirus-mediated gene transfer to the retinal pigment epit helial (RPE) cells or photorereptor cells. We report a novel surgical approach allowing an efficient delivery of recombinant replication-def icient adenoviral vectors into the subretinal space of newborn rats. O ur data suggest that this method may be useful for infecting reproduci bly large areas of the RPE cell layer of normal newborn rats and shoul d be applicable to RCS pups. We also show the feasibility of infecting ex vivo RPE cells in culture wing the same recombinant adenoviral vec tor.