To evaluate the effect of laser photocoagulation on transfection efficiency of lentivirus (LV) vectors injected intravitreally.

The rat retina was photocoagulated prior to intravitreal injection of LV vectors encoding red fluorescent protein. Rats given intravitreal injection or photocoagulation alone served as controls. The transduction efficiency was analyzed by fundus angiography, histopathology, and immunofluorescence staining. Potential adverse effect of laser photocoagulation was evaluated in choroid flat mounts by observing the morphology of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) that formed the outer blood-retina barrier.

Laser photocoagulation enhanced the retinal area transduced by LV vectors in fundus images and increased the maximum transduction thickness in histopathological sections. Choroid flat mounts showed the RPE transduced by LV vectors maintained normal morphology.

Laser photocoagulation improves the transduction efficiency of LV vectors injected intravitreally, identifying this as a promising gene therapy strategy for inherited retinal dystrophies caused by gene mutations in RPE and photoreceptor cells.