Noninvasive monitoring of placenta-specific transgene expression by bioluminescence imaging.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Placental dysfunction underlies numerous complications of pregnancy. A major obstacle to understanding the roles of potential mediators of placental pathology has been the absence of suitable methods for tissue-specific gene manipulation and sensitive assays for studying gene functions in the placentas of intact animals. We describe a sensitive and noninvasive method of repetitively tracking placenta-specific gene expression throughout pregnancy using lentivirus-mediated transduction of optical reporter genes in mouse blastocysts.

Methodology/principal findings

Zona-free blastocysts were incubated with lentivirus expressing firefly luciferase (Fluc) and Tomato fluorescent fusion protein for trophectoderm-specific infection and transplanted into day 3 pseudopregnan

SUBMITTER: Fan X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3025029 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature