Project description:Exercise intolerance (EI) and insulin resistance (IR) are hallmarks of heart failure (HF). Abnormalities in skeletal muscle metabolism, where glucose is a major energy source, have been identified in HF and may be a link between EI and IR but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood.
Project description:Peripheral nerve regeneration after injury is a complex process involving a large number of transcriptional changes. How these changes impact the regenerative outcome is though, poorly understood. Here, we take advantage of the genetically based differences in the peripheral and central regenerative capacity of CAST/Ei and C57BL/6j inbred mice to better understand the molecular bases driving superior regeneration in the CAST/Ei mouse strain.
Project description:In this project we did a proteomic analysis from iPSCs-derived macrophages with the activation of thranscription factor KLF1, upon tamoxifen induction. These macrophages are a model for the study of the erythroid island (EI) niche in adult hematopoietic tissues, such as bone marrow and spleen. We wanted to assess the upregulated proteins in macrophages upon KLF1 activation to further study the interactions between macrophages and erythroid cells whithin the EI niche.
Project description:We previously constructed a congenic mouse, B6.S-D2Mit194-D2Mit311 (B6.S-2) with SPRET/Ei donor DNA on distal chromosome 2 in a C57BL/6J background that captured an obesity quantitative trait locus (QTL). Mice homozygous for SPRET/Ei alleles at the donor region had decreased body weight and obesity related phenotypes. The B6.S-2 congenic donor region spanned a minimum of 26 Mb. In this study, we constructed five overlapping subcongenics with smaller SPRET/Ei donor regions to fine map the underlying gene(s). One of the five subcongenic lines derived from the B6.S-2 founding congenic, B6.S-2A, captures most of the body weight and adiposity phenotypes in a donor region with a maximum size of 7.4 Mb. Homozygous SPRET/Ei donor alleles in both the founding congenic and the derived B6.S-2A subcongenic exhibit significant decreases in body weight, multiple fat pad weights with the greatest decrease in mesenteric fat pad weight, and Adiposity Index (total fat pad weight divided by body weight). Interval specific microarray analysis in four tissues for donor region genes from the founding B6.S-2 congenic identified several differentially expressed genes mapping to the B6.S-2A subcongenic donor region, including prohormone convertase 2 (PC2). Quantitative real-time PCR confirmed a modest decrease of PC2 expression in whole brains of mice homozygous for SPRET/Ei donor alleles. Analysis of the relative levels of mRNA for B6 and SPRET/Ei in heterozygous congenic mice showed differentially higher expression of the C57BL/6J allele over the SPRET/Ei allele indicating a cis regulation of differential expression. Using subcongenic mapping, we have successfully narrowed a body weight and obesity QTL interval and identified PC2 as a positional candidate gene. Keywords: Two strain comparison for gene discovery
Project description:Axon regeneration in the central nervous system (CNS) requires reactivating injured neurons’ intrinsic growth state and enabling growth in an inhibitory environment. Using an inbred mouse neuronal phenotypic screen, we find that CAST/Ei mouse adult dorsal root ganglion neurons extend axons more on CNS myelin than the other eight strains tested, especially when pre-injured. Injury-primed CAST/Ei neurons also regenerate markedly in the spinal cord and optic nerve more than those from C57BL/6 mice and show greater spouting following ischemic stroke. Heritability estimates indicate that extended growth in CAST/Ei neurons on myelin is genetically determined, and two whole-genome expression screens yield the Activin transcript Inhba as most correlated with this ability. These screens are presented here.
Project description:Gene expression analysis in heifer luteal tissue by interspecies microarray analysis. Post-pubertal heifers were fed diets containing endophyte free fescue seed (EF), endophyte infected fescue seed (EI) or EI seed supplemented with 1.44 mg domperidone/kg body weight (EID). One heifer from each treatment group was slaughtered at a local abattoir 11-14 days after ovulation (EF = 11d, EI = 14d and EID = 14d ) and used for this study. Ovaries were collected and shipped at room temperature to the laboratory. Approximately 3 mm3 samples of luteal tissue were placed in cryovials and frozen at -80°C until processed. One 3 mm3 sample each for the EI and EID treatments and two samples for the EF treatment were ground to a fine powder in liquid N and total RNA was extracted using the RNeasy® Mini Kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA). Quality and quantity of RNA was determined by gel electrophoresis and spectrophotometry. Five µg of total RNA was converted to cDNA and then biotin-labeled cRNA by linear amplification (CodeLink® Expression Bioarrays, Amersham Biosciences Corp, Piscataway, NJ, USA). Ten micrograms of labeled cRNA were hybridized to CodeLink UniSet Rat I Bioarray (Amersham Biosciences Corp, Piscataway, NJ, USA) by the Amersham Biosciences Facility. Keywords: other
Project description:We screened nine genetically diverse inbred mouse strains for differences in axonal growth of adult dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons on CNS myelin. Naïve DRG neurite outgrowth on myelin was very limited, but preconditioning the neurons by a prior sciatic nerve crush increased axonal growth substantially across all strains, with by far the greatest change in neurons from CAST/Ei mice. Three independent in vivo CNS injury models revealed greater capacity for CNS axonal regeneration in CAST/Ei than C57BL/6 mice. Full-genome expression profiling of naïve and pre-conditioned DRGs across all strains revealed Activin-βA (Inhba) as the transcript whose expression most closely correlated with axonal growth on myelin. In vitro and in vivo gain- and loss-of-function experiments confirmed that Activin promotes axonal growth in the CNS. Substantial regeneration is possible, therefore, in the injured mammalian CNS when Activin signaling is intrinsically high, as in CAST/Ei or when extrinsically modulated in other strains.
Project description:Axon regeneration in the central nervous system (CNS) requires reactivating injured neurons’ intrinsic growth state and enabling growth in an inhibitory environment. Using an inbred mouse neuronal phenotypic screen, we find that CAST/Ei mouse adult dorsal root ganglion neurons extend axons more on CNS myelin than the other eight strains tested, especially when pre-injured. Injury-primed CAST/Ei neurons also regenerate markedly in the spinal cord and optic nerve more than those from C57BL/6 mice and show greater spouting following ischemic stroke. Heritability estimates indicate that extended growth in CAST/Ei neurons on myelin is genetically determined, and two whole-genome expression screens yield the Activin transcript Inhba as most correlated with this ability. These screens are presented here. Biological quadruplicate - Mouse tissue - Naïve Dorsal Root Ganglia (DRG) and 5 day post sciatic nerve crush DRG - x9 strains.