Gene transfer to rodent brain with recombinant adenoviral vectors: effects of infusion parameters, infectious titer, and virus concentration on transduction volume.

Initial studies examining intraparenchymal injection of recombinant viral vectors in rodent brain have demonstrated a limited region of gene transfer. We examined, independently, different infusion parameters to determine if the volume of cells transduced acutely could be increased. Varying the rate of infusion from 0.3 to 3 microliters/min at constant time and virus dose did not improve the volume of brain transduced, with the lowest rate of infusion demonstrating the least amount of gene transfer. However, transduction volume did increase with increasing particle concentrations of virus, although the improvements were modest from 3 to 9 x 10(9) total particles infused. Infusion of virus under conditions of hypertonicity resulted in modest improvements in the final transduced volume. These studies suggest that most changes in infusion parameters will have small effects on the initial transduction volume in rodent brain.