Quantitative analyses of circadian gene expression in mammalian cell cultures.

ABSTRACT: The central circadian pacemaker is located in the hypothalamus of mammals, but essentially the same oscillating system operates in peripheral tissues and even in immortalized cell lines. Using luciferase reporters that allow automated monitoring of circadian gene expression in mammalian fibroblasts, we report the collection and analysis of precise rhythmic data from these cells. We use these methods to analyze signaling pathways of peripheral tissues by studying the responses of Rat-1 fibroblasts to ten different compounds. To quantify these rhythms, which show significant variation and large non-stationarities (damping and baseline drifting), we developed a new fast Fourier transform-nonlinear least squares analysis procedure that specifically optimizes the quantification of amplitude for

SUBMITTER: Izumo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1599765 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature