Project description:Normal development in the brain requires temporal changes in gene expression. A better understanding of the genomics of the fetal brain during late gestation can help to improve our understanding of the molecular events that enable the newborn to survive extra-uterine life. The purpose of the present study is to model changes and coherence of gene expression in cerebral cortex, brainstem, hippocampus, and hypothalamus throughout the second half of gestation. We used the sheep as an animal model to identify co-expressed genes in different regions of the ovine fetal brain, from mid-gestation (80 days) to one day of postnatal life. In the ewe, gestation length varies from 142 to 152 days, with an average of 147 days. Using a newly-available ovine array and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), we tested the hypothesis that the resulting products of genes expressed in a similar pattern through the last stage of gestation in different brain regions are functionally related and could play an important role in the normal fetal development.
Project description:Normal development in the brain requires temporal changes in gene expression. A better understanding of the genomics of the fetal brain during late gestation can help to improve our understanding of the molecular events that enable the newborn to survive extra-uterine life. The purpose of the present study is to model changes and coherence of gene expression in cerebral cortex, brainstem, hippocampus, and hypothalamus throughout the second half of gestation. We used the sheep as an animal model to identify co-expressed genes in different regions of the ovine fetal brain, from mid-gestation (80 days) to one day of postnatal life. In the ewe, gestation length varies from 142 to 152 days, with an average of 147 days. Using a newly-available ovine array and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), we tested the hypothesis that the resulting products of genes expressed in a similar pattern through the last stage of gestation in different brain regions are functionally related and could play an important role in the normal fetal development. Tissues from cortex, brainstem, hippocampus and hypothalamus were collected from non treated fetuses at 80 (80d, n=4), 96M-bM-^@M-^S100 (100d, n=4), 120 (120d, n=4), 130 (130d, n=4), and 142M-bM-^@M-^S144 (145d, n=4) days of gestation and on the first (1d, n=4) day after delivery. Each group included one set of twin fetuses. None of the ewes showed any signs of impending labor.