Background This study evaluates needleless liquid jet method and compares it with three common experimental methods: (1) Intramuscular injection (IM) (2) Left ventricular intracavitary infusion (LVIC) (3) LV intracavitary infusion with aortic and pulmonary occlusion (LVIC-OCCL). Methods and Results Two protocols were executed. First, [n=24 rats], retention of dye was evaluated 10 minutes after delivery in an acute model. The acute study revealed the following: significantly higher dye retention (expressed as % myocardial cross section area) in the left ventricle in both the Liquid Jet [52±4] % and LVIC-OCCL [58±3] % groups p<0.05 compared with IM [31±8] % and LVIC [35±4] %. In the second, [n=16 rats], each animal received AAV.EGFP at a single dose with terminal 6 week endpoint. In the second phase with AAV.EGFP at 6 weeks post-delivery, a similar trend was found with Liquid Jet [54±5] % and LVIC-OCCL [60±8] % featuring more LV expression as compared with IM [30±9] % and LVIC [23±9] %. The IM and LVIC-OCCL cross sections revealed myocardial fibrosis. Conclusions With more detailed development in future model studies, needleless liquid jet delivery offers a promising strategy to improve direct myocardial delivery.

Summary Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a rare condition. The aetiology of CDH is often unclear. In our case, a hollow mass was noted on MRI. Cardiac ejection fraction was diminished (47.0%) compared to 60.5% (average of 10 other normal animals, P < 0.05). The final diagnosis of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (Bochdalek type) was made when the sheep underwent surgery. The hernia was right-sided and contained the abomasum. Lung biopsy demonstrated incomplete development with a low number of bronchopulmonary segments and vessels. The likely cause of this hernia was genetic malformation.

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