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AIM: To investigate the effect of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) transfection on hepatic sinusoidal capillarization.MEthODS: Enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)/VEGF transfection was confirmed by immunofluorescencemicroscopy and immunohistoche-mistry both in primaryhepatocytes and in normal liven Cirrhotic rats weregenerated by thioacetamide (TAA) administration andthen divided into a treatment group, which receivedinjections of 400 μg of plasmid DNA encoding an EGFP-VEGF fusion protein, and a blank group, which receivedan equal amount of normal saline through the portalvein. The portal vein pressure was measured in the normal and cirrhotic state, in treated and blank groups.The average number of fenestrae per hepatic sinusoidwas determined using transmission electron microscopy(TEM), while the relative abundance of VEGF transcriptswas examined by Gene array.RESULTS: Green fluorescent protein was observed in the cytoplasms of liver cells under immunofluorescence microscopy 24 h after transfection with EGFP/VEGFplasmid in vitro. Staining with polyclonal antibodies against VEGF illustrated that hepatocytes expressed immunodetectable VEGF both in vitro and in vitro. There were significant differences in the number of fenestrae and portal vein pressures between normal and cirrhotic rats (7.40±1.71 vs 2.30± 2.26 and 9.32± 0.85 cmH2Ovs 27.92± 0.90 cmH2O1, P < 0.02), between cirrhotic and treated rats (2.30 + 1.16 cmH2O vs 4.60± 1.65 and 17.92± 0.90 cmH2O vs 15.52±0.93 cmH20, P < 0.05)and between the treatment group and the blank group (4.60±1.65 cmH20 vs 2.10 ± 1.10 cmH20 and 25.52 +0.93 cmH20 vs 17.26 ± 1.80 cmH20, P < 0.05). Gene-array analysis revealed that the relative abundance oftranscripts of VEGF family members decreased in the cirrhotic state and increased after transfection. CONCLUSION: Injection of a plasmid encoding VEGFthrough the portal vein is an effective method toinduce the formation of fenestrae and decrease portalvein pressure in cirrhotic rats. Therefore, it may be a good choice for treating hepatic cirrhosis and portal hypertension.