Feasibility study of lentiviral vector-mediated modification of ovine MSCs for gene expression

Objective To study the feasibility of lentiviral vector-mediated modification on ovine marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for gene expression. Methods Ovine MSCs were transduced into lentiviral vector MSCz by ZsGreen lentiviral vector, and the effects of transduction on morphology, proliferation and differentiation potential were evaluated using flow cytometry, MTT assay and trilealinige differentiation, respectively. Results MSCz maintained the specific morphology of mesenchymal stem cells, and expressed ZsGreen proteins as detected by fluorescent microscopy. The percentage of MSCz increased with the rise of MOI based on flow cytometry analysis, and it could reach 71.2% with MOI of 20. MTT assay showed that the proliferation ability of MSCz were same as MSCs. The multipotent ability of MSCz showed no difference in differentiation towards adipose, chondrocyte and osteoblast from MSCs. Stress by hydrogen peroxide or culture under hypoxia showed that MSCs and MSCz had the same response to these hostile environments. Conclusion Lentiviral vector is a good vector for transducing ovine MSCs for gene expression.