In utero intraocular AAV injection for early gene expression in the developing rodent retina

The visual system is the best system to study activity-dependent sensory circuit development. The connections from the retina to the dorsal lateral geniculate nu-cleus, the retinogeniculate connections, undergo extensive remodeling during early postnatal life. Thus, techniques that allow the expression of transgenes early in the developing retina are essential to study visual system development. Here, we describe a protocol to express genes-of-interest in the developing mouse retina via in utero intraocular adeno-associated virus injections. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Yasuda et al. (2021).

Automated summary

The visual system is the best system to study activity-dependent sensory circuit development, with retinogeniculate connections undergoing extensive remodeling during early postnatal life. Techniques allowing early transgene expression in the developing retina are essential for studying visual system development. This protocol describes a method for expressing genes-of-interest in the developing mouse retina via in utero intraocular adeno-associated virus injections, with more details available in Yasuda et al. (2021).