Analysis of daily and circadian gene expression in the rat pineal gland.

ABSTRACT: The mammalian pineal gland is an important component of the circadian system. In the present study, we examined the expression of roughly 8000 genes in the rat pineal gland as a function of time of day under light-dark (LD) cycles and in constant dark (DD) using oligo DNA microarray technique. We identified 47 and 13 genes that showed higher levels at night and day, respectively, under LD. The same patterns of expression were also observed in DD. About half of the genes that peaked at night have a known biological function, i.e., transcription factors and proteins that are involved in signaling cascades, whereas 14 are expressed sequence tags and 8 have an unknown biological function. Twelve of the genes that were up-regulated at night were also up-regulated after 1h NE stimulation, thus s

SUBMITTER: Fukuhara C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2266823 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature