Comparative analysis of laparoscopic and ultrasound-guided biopsy methods for gene expression analysis in transgenic goats.

The present study aimed to compare laparoscopic (LP) and ultrasound-guided (US) biopsy methods to obtain either liver or splenic tissue samples for ectopic gene expression analysis in transgenic goats. Tissue samples were collected from human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (hG-CSF)-transgenic bucks and submitted to real-time PCR for the endogenous genes (Sp1, Baff, and Gapdh) and the transgene (hG-CSF). Both LP and US biopsy methods were successful in obtaining liver and splenic samples that could be analyzed by PCR (i.e., sufficient sample sizes and RNA yield were obtained). Although the number of attempts made to obtain the tissue samples was similar (P > 0.05), LP procedures took considerably longer than the US method (P = 0.03). Finally, transgene transcripts were not detected in spleen or liver samples. Thus, for the phenotypic characterization of a transgenic goat line, investigation of ectopic gene expression can be made successfully by LP or US biopsy, avoiding the traditional approach of euthanasia.