Direct lentivirus injection for fast and efficient gene transfer into brown and beige adipose tissue

Aileen Balkow; Linda S Hoffmann; Katarina Klepac; Anja Glöde; Thorsten Gnad; Katrin Zimmermann; Alexander Pfeifer

doi:10.14440/jbm.2016.123

Direct lentivirus injection for fast and efficient gene transfer into brown and beige adipose tissue

J Biol Methods. 2016 Jul 16;3(3):e48. doi: 10.14440/jbm.2016.123. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Aileen Balkow¹, Linda S Hoffmann¹, Katarina Klepac^{1

2}, Anja Glöde^{1

3}, Thorsten Gnad¹, Katrin Zimmermann¹, Alexander Pfeifer^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Hospital Bonn, University of Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany.
² Research Training Group 1873, University of Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany.
³ BIGS DrugS International Graduate School, University of Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany.
⁴ PharmaCenter, University of Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany.

Abstract

Brown adipose tissue is a special type of fat contributing to energy expenditure in human newborns and adults. Moreover, subcutaneous white adipose tissue has a high capacity to adapt an energy-consuming, brown-like/beige phenotype. Here, we developed an easy to handle and fast to accomplish method to efficiently transfer genes into brown and beige fat pads in vivo. Lentiviral vectors are directly injected into the target fat pad of anesthetized mice through a small incision using a modified, small needle connected to a microsyringe, which is well suited for infiltration of adipose tissues. Expression of the target gene can be detected in brown/beige fat one week after injection. The method can be applied within minutes to efficiently deliver transgenes into subcutaneous adipose tissues. Thus, this protocol allows for studying genes of interest in a timely manner in murine brown/beige fat and could potentially lead to new gene therapies for obesity.

Keywords: beige adipose tissue; brown adipose tissue; gene transfer; lentivirus.