Figure 3.

Circular episomal forms of rAAV persist in the skeletal muscle of C57BL/6 mice. C-AT- or PBS-injected mice were killed 18, 52, and 78 weeks after injection. DNA samples (60 μg/lane) from injection sites were incubated without restriction enzyme (−) or with XmnI (X), HindIII (H), or SacI (S). Plasmid DNA of C-AT (pC-AT) was digested with SacI to release a 2.6-kb band as a control. (A) To avoid the detection of the endogenous murine AAT gene, Southern hybridization was performed with a neo cDNA probe (NeoR) located downstream of the hAAT gene in the vector (see the diagrams in Fig. 2B Left). (B) The blot subsequently was stripped and hybridized with the CMV probe.