The objective of this study was to develop a viable and reliable technique of delivering viral vectors to
rat trigeminal ganglia.
Adult Sprague-Dawley rats (200-300 g) were used, and lentiviral vectors containing enhanced green
fluorescence protein and
calcitonin gene-related peptide short hairpin RNA (
shRNA) were generated. Following
general anesthesia, viral vectors were delivered to
rat trigeminal ganglia using the technique described in this study. Both
X-ray and micro-computed
tomography (micro-CT) were employed to verify the position of the
needles when injecting the vectors. In vivo
fluorescence imaging and immunostaining against enhanced green
fluorescence protein were performed to determine the success of viral transduction.The levels of
calcitonin gene-related peptide in
trigeminal ganglia were determined using
real-time PCR, and
pain levels following
injections were evaluated using the
Rat Grimace Scale. Our results show that
injection needles can be advanced precisely at the trigeminal fossa and that viral vectors can successfully transduce
trigeminal ganglia. Moreover, the levels of
calcitonin gene-related peptide at
trigeminal ganglia were down-regulated on day 7 after viral transduction.
Pain levels returned to baseline by day 7 following
injection. Therefore, we suggest that our
trigeminal ganglion-targeting technique could be used for delivering
genes or
drugs to
rat trigeminal ganglia.