[Foreign genes expression in rat vascular smooth muscle].

ABSTRACT

Three retroviral vectors containing report gene LacZ or the whole length cDNA of human Pro-UK and tPA, pN2-LacZ, pN2-CMV-ProUK and pN2-CMV-tPA were constructed. The rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) were transfected with the plasmids by calcium phosphate coprecipitation or pseudovirus infection. The transfected cells were selected by G418. Southern blot analysis showed that the foreign genes were present in the genome of the transfected VSMC, and the expression products of these genes could be detected in the transfected VSMCs. These results suggested that the VSMC could be a targeting cell for gene therapy on cardiovascular diseases.