Use of the rabbit ear artery to serially assess foreign protein secretion after site-specific arterial gene transfer in vivo. Evidence that anatomic identification of successful gene transfer may underestimate the potential magnitude of transgene expression.

The development of molecular strategies for the treatment of restenosis has been hindered by low efficiencies of in vivo arterial transfection. Expression of intracellular marker proteins is generally evident in < 1% of vascular smooth muscle cells after in vivo arterial transfection. Efforts to improve the efficiency of in vivo gene transfer have been further impeded by the use of transgenes encoding for intracellular marker proteins, necessitating tissue removal and limiting survey for expression to one point in time.