Sex- and Region-Specific Differences in the Transcriptomes of Rat Microglia from the Brainstem and Cervical Spinal Cord.

ABSTRACT: The neural control system underlying breathing is sexually dimorphic with males being more vulnerable to dysfunction. Microglia also display sex differences, and their role in the architecture of brainstem respiratory rhythm circuitry and modulation of cervical spinal cord respiratory plasticity is becoming better appreciated. To further understand the molecular underpinnings of these sex differences, we performed RNA sequencing of immunomagnetically isolated microglia from brainstem and cervical spinal cord of adult male and female rats. We used various bioinformatics tools (Gene Ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, Reactome, STRING, MAGICTRICKS) to functionally categorize identified gene sets, as well as to pinpoint common transcriptional gene drivers that may be responsibl

SUBMITTER: Ewald AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7569313 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature