Gene Transfer into Mammalian Cells by Jet Injection

Abstract

Jet injection of DNA in solution is a technique that can be used to transfer DNA into tissues of living animals, where the introduced genes are expressed.(1–5) The muscle, fat, skin, and mammary tissue of mice, and the fat, skin, and mammary tissue of sheep can be transfected with DNA.(¹) A jet injector, such as the Ped-o-jet (Stirn Industries, Dayton, NJ), is used to form a jet from 100 to 300 μl of a DNA solution. This jet has sufficient force to travel into and through tissues of adult and juvenile animals. The introduced DNA is found in cells surrounding the path of the jet. When jet injection is performed through the surface of intact skin, underlying muscle, mammary, and fat, cells up to 2 cm distant from the point of injection are transfected with DNA. In this study, we demonstrate that the efficiency of DNA transfer is dependent upon the force of injection. Jet injection is an alternative to needle injection, lipofection, and particle bombardment for the introduction of "naked" DNA into the tissues of animals. This technique has potential for the introduction of genes into living organisms for genetic vaccination and gene therapy.