Abstract
Quick and efficient transfection of nucleic acids by in utero electroporation has revolutionized gene analyses in the mammalian brain. Microinjection of nucleic acids into a targeted site, however, is not easy, because young embryos are not clearly visible through the thick uterine wall. To circumvent this difficulty, we developed the exo utero electroporation method. Incision of the uterine wall of a pregnant mouse exposes the yolk sac containing an embryo, and the embryo can be clearly visualized and easily manipulated for electroporation. The electroporated embryos grow normally in their mother’s body. Exo utero electroporation is particularly useful for transfection into the developing spinal cord and cerebellum and for focal transfection into a targeted site.
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Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Dr. Tatsuya Sato for Fig. 5, Drs. Yuko Muroyama and Atsushi Baba for their critical reading of the manuscript, and Nanae Sasano for her help. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 24300116, 25123701, and 26640026.
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Saito, T. (2015). Exo Utero Electroporation of the Mouse Embryo. In: Saito, T. (eds) Electroporation Methods in Neuroscience. Neuromethods, vol 102. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2459-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2459-2_2
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