Gene Therapy for Laryngeal Paralysis

Abstract

The therapeutic effects of IGF-I gene transfer into denervated rat laryngeal muscle and GDNF gene transfer into rat nucleus ambiguus after vagal avulsion were investigated. Four weeks after IGF-I gene transfer, IGF-I transfected animals had a significant improvement in muscle fiber diameter and motor endplate morphology. GDNF transfected animals had a significantly larger number of surviving motor neurons in nucleus ambiguus two and four weeks after GDNF gene transfer. These results indicate that gene therapy for laryngeal paralysis may provide tremendous opportunity for augmentation of current surgical treatment modalities by preventing or reversing muscle atrophy and motor neuron death.