Preclinical safety validation of a stabilized viral vector direct injection approach to the cervical spinal cord.

The current lack of a validated intraspinal delivery approach precludes translation of promising cell or viral-based therapeutics for treatment of varied spinal cord afflictions. We have developed a stabilized cervical microinjection platform with the intent of precise delivery to intraspinal sites of interest. Nine 30-40 kg female swine underwent coordinate-based microinjection AAV2-GFP at three injected volumes (10, 25, and 50 microL (n= 3/group)) and matched infusion rates (1.0, 2.5, and 5.0 microL/min) over a period (t= 10 minutes). Preliminary validation is provided by behavioral and targeting data demonstrating safe delivery of a viral vector carrying a fluorescent reporter gene to the cervical spinal cord ventral horn.