Targeted Collection of Plasmid DNA in Large and Growing Animal Muscles 6 Weeks after DNA Vaccination with and without Electroporation

Figure 3

Plasmid concentrations in the different muscle fractions six weeks after injection. Two groups of four pigs were intramuscularly injected with 2.5 × 10¹⁴ copies of PrV-gB-pcDNA3 with or without electroporation, respectively. Six weeks later, excision of the muscle injection site was performed using a disposable 2 cm long and 0.8 cm diameter biopsy punch. (a) The excised muscle portion was divided into six fractions, F1 to F6. Fraction F1 represents the most external part of the muscle (i.e., under the skin) and F6 the most internal part. Thereafter plasmid DNA concentration was measured in each fraction after DNA extraction. Levels (in number of plasmid copies per μg of total DNA) of PrV-gB-pcDNA3 present in injected or opposite (noninjected) biceps femoris were quantified by real-time qPCR. Individual plasmid concentrations in each muscle sample for each pig injected with (b) or without (c) electroporation are presented. When taking into account the mean values for each fraction (not shown), the differences between both groups were not statistically significant (, nonparametric Mann-Whitney test).

(a)

(b)

(c)