We investigated whether application of non-distending hydrostatic pressure facilitates gene transfer into vein grafts. An external jugular vein was placed in a chamber with 100 μl adenovirus solution at a titer of 1010 pfu/ml and was pressurized to up to 8 atm above ambient pressure for 10 min. Histochemical analysis demonstrated a positive transgene expression in all layers of the vessel wall. Gene transfer with 8 atm pressurization resulted in an approximately 50 times higher transgene expression than that without pressurization. Under 8 atm pressurization, the efficiency of gene transfer reached a plateau at 7.5 min. The application of hydrostatic pressure may improve the effectiveness of intraoperative genetic engineering of vein grafts.
