Project description:The objective of this study was to determine which pathways are significantly regulated with age in sciatic and radial nerves, individually or considering the interaction term. We find a strong signature of the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway being downregulated with age in both nerves, however, this effect is significantly milder in the radial nerve. We collected both radial and sciatic nerves from 8 adult (8 months old) and 8 old (24 months old) rats.
Project description:Sciatic nerve ligation was performed on cohorts of 2-month and 24-month old animals. Resulting gene-expression data were generated from sciatic nerve 1 and 4 days after injury compared to naïve animals. Results show differences in sciatic nerve responses with normal aging. Total RNA taken from sciatic nerves from 2-month and 24-month old animals at either day 0, 1 and 4 after sciatic nerve crush injury.
Project description:The objective of this study was to determine which pathways are significantly regulated with age in sciatic and radial nerves, individually or considering the interaction term. We find a strong signature of the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway being downregulated with age in both nerves, however, this effect is significantly milder in the radial nerve.
Project description:Our objective was to identify early changes in gene expression related to the development of sarcopenia via transcriptomic profiling of aging sciatic nerves in vivo. Sciatic nerve mRNA profiles of C57BL/6JN mice aged 5 (n = 6), 18 (n = 5), 21 (n = 6), and 24 months (n = 5) old were generated by RNA sequencing using an Illumina HiSeq4000. The sequence reads that passed quality filters were mapped to the mouse reference genome using STAR and featureCounts. Differential expression analysis was performed using DESeq2. Differentially expressed genes were validated using quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) using SYBR Green assays. We detected 51 significant differentially expressed genes in sciatic nerve of 18-month-old mice compared to 5-month-old mice. These genes were associated with the AMPK signaling pathway, biosynthesis and metabolic pathways, and circadian rhythm. These early molecular changes shed a new light on biological processes in peripheral nerve that may be implicated in sarcopenia initiation and pathogenesis. Future studies are warranted to confirm the disease modifying and/or biomarker potential of the key changes we report here.
Project description:In order to establish a rat embryonic stem cell transcriptome, mRNA from rESC cell line DAc8, the first male germline competent rat ESC line to be described and the first to be used to generate a knockout rat model was characterized using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis.
Project description:The extraocular muscles (EOM) are anatomically and physiologically distinct from other skeletal muscles. EOM are preferentially affected in mitochondrial myopathies, but spared in Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. The anatomical and pathophysiological properties of EOM have been attributed to their unique molecular makeup: an allotype. We used expression profiling to define molecular features of the EOM allotype. We found 346 differentially expressed genes in rat EOM compared with tibialis anterior, based on a twofold difference cutoff. Genes required for efficient, fatigue-resistant, oxidative metabolism were increased in EOM, whereas genes for glycogen metabolism were decreased. EOM also showed increased expression of genes related to structural components of EOM such as vessels, nerves, mitochondria, and neuromuscular junctions. Additionally, genes related to specialized functional roles of EOM such as the embryonic and EOM-specific myosin heavy chains and genes for muscle growth, development, and/or regeneration were increased. The EOM expression profile was validated using biochemical, structural, and molecular methods. Characterization of the EOM expression profile begins to define gene transcription patterns associated with the unique anatomical, metabolic, and pathophysiological properties of EOM.