Somatic gene transfer into the lactating ovine mammary gland.

Background: Somatic gene therapy requires safe and efficient techniques for the gene transfer procedure. The ovine mammary gland is described as a model system for the evaluation of somatic gene transfer methods.

Methods: Different gene delivery formulations were retrogradely injected into the mammary gland of lactating sheep.

OMEC II: a new ovine mammary epithelial cell line.

We have established three independent ovine mammary epithelial cell lines which arose from primary cultures of ovine mammary epithelial cells by spontaneous immortalization. One of them, OMEC II, was characterised in greater detail. The cells grow on plastic dishes in medium containing 10% FCS without any requirement for additional growth factors or hormones.