Project description:Analysis of brains of mice lacking the neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM (Ncam-/-) in comparison to wild-type mice of same age and genetic background (Ncam+/+). NCAM-deficient mice exhibit deficits in long-term potentiation and spatial learning, as well as increased intermale aggression. We performed a microarray analysis of adult NCAM-deficient mouse brains to identify molecular targets which might underly the phenotype of NCAM-deficient mice.
Project description:Analysis of brains of mice lacking the neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM (Ncam-/-) in comparison to wild-type mice of same age and genetic background (Ncam+/+). NCAM-deficient mice exhibit deficits in long-term potentiation and spatial learning, as well as increased intermale aggression. We performed a microarray analysis of adult NCAM-deficient mouse brains to identify molecular targets which might underly the phenotype of NCAM-deficient mice. We analyzed the gene expression profiles in 2-3 months old (young adult) mouse brains, with both the Ncam-/- and the Ncam+/+ group consisting of three individuals each. Wild-type and NCAM-deficient animals had the same genetic background. RNA was prepared from total brain.
Project description:The experiment was performed to identify PKA phosphorylation substrates in wildtype and autophagy-deficient brains. Therefore, hippocampus and cortex of wildtype and conditional knockout mice were isolated and sliced. The brain slices were incubated with DMSO or Forskolin, a cAMP elevating agent, to induce PKA activity. Samples were measured by LC-MS/MS and were used to quantify proteomic and phosphoproteomic changes.
Project description:Neural regeneration and neuroprotection represent promising therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease (AD) or glaucoma. However, the molecular mechanisms that lead to neuroprotection are not clearly understood. One of the promising candidates to revive physiological function is neuroserpin (Serpini1), a serine protease inhibitor expressed by neurons which selectively inhibits extracellular tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA)/plasmin and plays a neuroprotective role during ischemic brain injury. Abnormal function of this protein has been implicated in stroke, glaucoma, AD and FENIB. Here we report proteome changes by neuroserpin modulation in brains, retinas, and optic nerves from 12-month C57BL6/J neuroserpin deficient mice (NeuS-/-).
Project description:Background. Nuclear factor I-A (NFI-A), a phylogenetically conserved transcription/replication protein, plays a crucial role in mouse brain development. Previous studies showed that disruption of the Nfia gene in mice leads to perinatal lethality, corpus callosum agenesis, and hydrocephalus. Results. To identify potential NFI-A target genes involved in the observed tissue malformations, we analyzed gene expression in brains from NFI-A-deficient and wild-type littermate control mice at the mRNA level using oligonucleotide microarrays. In young postnatal animals (P16), 356 genes were detected as differentially regulated, whereas at the late embryonic stage (E18), only 5 dysregulated genes were found. An in silico analysis identified phylogenetically conserved NFI binding sites in at least 70 of the differentially regulated genes. Moreover, assignment of gene function showed that marker genes for immature neural cells and neural precursors were expressed at elevated levels in young postnatal NFI-A mutants. By contrast, marker genes for differentiated neural cells were down-regulated at this stage. In particular, genes relevant for oligodendrocyte differentiation were affected. Conclusions. Our results suggest that a delay in early postnatal development, especially oligodendrocyte maturation, is exhibited by NFI-A knock-out mice, and at least partly accounts for their phenotype. The identification of potential NFI-A target genes by our study should both help to elucidate NFI-A-dependent transcriptional pathways and contribute to a better understanding of this period of brain formation, especially with regard to the function of NFI-A. Material and method; Animals; NFI-A-deficient mice were bred and maintained as described [20]. Animals were sacrificed by CO2 at embryonic stage E18.5 (E18) or postnatal day 16 (P16). Brains were dissected and snap frozen in liquid nitrogen. The respective KO and WT animals used for analysis at E18 and P16 were littermates. Only male mice were used. All of the animals were F1 hybrids of C57Bl/6 and 129S6 animals. Within these matings, males had a B6 and females had a 129S6 background. In a large scale test, 38.5% of the offspring survive until P30 using this kind of mating. In purebred B6, we observed 0% survival at P1 (R.M.G., unpublished observations). All animal use was performed under the approved protocol BCH05082N (RMG) of the University at Buffalo Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee in the UB Laboratory Animal Facility, an AAALAC licensed facility. RNA preparation; Total RNA was extracted from the entire brain of NF-I-A-deficient and wild-type control mice (n=3 each) using TRIzol (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturerâs instructions. Further purification of RNA was performed with the RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen). Total RNA concentration was determined using a spectrophotometer at 260 nm and 280 nm wavelength. To check RNA integrity, total RNA was separated in a 1% agarose gel containing formaldehyde, and the intensity ratio of 28S and 18S ribosomal RNA bands was assessed after ethidium bromide staining. Microarray hybridization and signal detection; Procedures for cDNA synthesis, labeling and hybridization were carried out according to the manufacturer's protocol (Affymetrix). All experiments were performed using Affymetrix mouse genome Genechip U74A version 2. Briefly, 15mg of total RNA were used for first strand cDNA synthesis with an HPLC-purified T7-(dT)24 primer. Synthesis of biotin-labeled cRNA was carried out using the ENZO RNA transcript labeling kit (Affymetrix). For hybridization, 15 µg of fragmented cRNA were incubated with the chip in 200 µl of hybridization solution in Hybridization Oven 640 (Affymetrix) at 45oC for 16 hours. Genechips were washed and stained with streptavidin-phycoerythrin using the microfluidic workstation⢠(Affymetrix) and scanned with a laser scanner (Agilent Technologies). Microarray quantification and statistical analysis; Quality controls were performed using Affymetrix Microarray Suite 5.0 (MAS 5.0) software. Data and statistical analysis and data visualization were performed with GeneSpring⢠(Agilent Technologies). Expression values were extracted from the CEL file, and imported to GeneSpring using Robust Multi-array Average (RMA) for further analysis [24]. Two criteria were used to select for significant changes in gene expression. First, probe sets with less than 1.2 fold change comparing the KO to WT (control) were removed in order to reduce the number of genes undergoing statistical analysis. Second, genes were then tested statistically for significant changes in all three wild-type or NFI-A-deficient samples, using Student's t-test. Finally, genes were grouped based on their biological function using Affymetrix NetAffx, and NCBI Locuslink. Experiment Overall Design: 3 knockout and 3 wildtype from each embryonic stage day 18 and postnatal day 16 were used for gene expression profiling
Project description:Background. Nuclear factor I-A (NFI-A), a phylogenetically conserved transcription/replication protein, plays a crucial role in mouse brain development. Previous studies showed that disruption of the Nfia gene in mice leads to perinatal lethality, corpus callosum agenesis, and hydrocephalus. Results. To identify potential NFI-A target genes involved in the observed tissue malformations, we analyzed gene expression in brains from NFI-A-deficient and wild-type littermate control mice at the mRNA level using oligonucleotide microarrays. In young postnatal animals (P16), 356 genes were detected as differentially regulated, whereas at the late embryonic stage (E18), only 5 dysregulated genes were found. An in silico analysis identified phylogenetically conserved NFI binding sites in at least 70 of the differentially regulated genes. Moreover, assignment of gene function showed that marker genes for immature neural cells and neural precursors were expressed at elevated levels in young postnatal NFI-A mutants. By contrast, marker genes for differentiated neural cells were down-regulated at this stage. In particular, genes relevant for oligodendrocyte differentiation were affected. Conclusions. Our results suggest that a delay in early postnatal development, especially oligodendrocyte maturation, is exhibited by NFI-A knock-out mice, and at least partly accounts for their phenotype. The identification of potential NFI-A target genes by our study should both help to elucidate NFI-A-dependent transcriptional pathways and contribute to a better understanding of this period of brain formation, especially with regard to the function of NFI-A. Material and method Animals NFI-A-deficient mice were bred and maintained as described [20]. Animals were sacrificed by CO2 at embryonic stage E18.5 (E18) or postnatal day 16 (P16). Brains were dissected and snap frozen in liquid nitrogen. The respective KO and WT animals used for analysis at E18 and P16 were littermates. Only male mice were used. All of the animals were F1 hybrids of C57Bl/6 and 129S6 animals. Within these matings, males had a B6 and females had a 129S6 background. In a large scale test, 38.5% of the offspring survive until P30 using this kind of mating. In purebred B6, we observed 0% survival at P1 (R.M.G., unpublished observations). All animal use was performed under the approved protocol BCH05082N (RMG) of the University at Buffalo Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee in the UB Laboratory Animal Facility, an AAALAC licensed facility. RNA preparation Total RNA was extracted from the entire brain of NF-I-A-deficient and wild-type control mice (n=3 each) using TRIzol (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Further purification of RNA was performed with the RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen). Total RNA concentration was determined using a spectrophotometer at 260 nm and 280 nm wavelength. To check RNA integrity, total RNA was separated in a 1% agarose gel containing formaldehyde, and the intensity ratio of 28S and 18S ribosomal RNA bands was assessed after ethidium bromide staining. Microarray hybridization and signal detection Procedures for cDNA synthesis, labeling and hybridization were carried out according to the manufacturer's protocol (Affymetrix). All experiments were performed using Affymetrix mouse genome Genechip U74A version 2. Briefly, 15mg of total RNA were used for first strand cDNA synthesis with an HPLC-purified T7-(dT)24 primer. Synthesis of biotin-labeled cRNA was carried out using the ENZO RNA transcript labeling kit (Affymetrix). For hybridization, 15 µg of fragmented cRNA were incubated with the chip in 200 µl of hybridization solution in Hybridization Oven 640 (Affymetrix) at 45oC for 16 hours. Genechips were washed and stained with streptavidin-phycoerythrin using the microfluidic workstation™ (Affymetrix) and scanned with a laser scanner (Agilent Technologies). Microarray quantification and statistical analysis Quality controls were performed using Affymetrix Microarray Suite 5.0 (MAS 5.0) software. Data and statistical analysis and data visualization were performed with GeneSpring™ (Agilent Technologies). Expression values were extracted from the CEL file, and imported to GeneSpring using Robust Multi-array Average (RMA) for further analysis [24]. Two criteria were used to select for significant changes in gene expression. First, probe sets with less than 1.2 fold change comparing the KO to WT (control) were removed in order to reduce the number of genes undergoing statistical analysis. Second, genes were then tested statistically for significant changes in all three wild-type or NFI-A-deficient samples, using Student's t-test. Finally, genes were grouped based on their biological function using Affymetrix NetAffx, and NCBI Locuslink. Keywords: biotinylated cRNA template
Project description:RNA was isolated from three pairs of wild-type and Brpf1-deficient mouse brains (the dorsal cortex part) at postnatal day 4 for microarray analysis.
Project description:Overexpression and amplification of AXL receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) has been found in several hematologic and solid malignancies. Activation of AXL can enhance tumor-promoting processes such as cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion and survival. Despite the important role of AXL in cancer development, a deep and quantitative mapping of its temporal dynamic signaling transduction has not yet been reported. Here, we used a TMT labeling-based quantitative proteomics approach to characterize the temporal dynamics of the phosphotyrosine proteome induced by AXL activation. We identified >1100 phosphotyrosine sites and observed a widespread upregulation of tyrosine phosphorylation induced by GAS6 stimulation. We also detected several tyrosine sites whose phosphorylation levels were reduced upon AXL activation. Gene set enrichment-based pathway analysis indicated the activation of several cancer-promoting and cell migration/invasion-related signaling pathways, including RAS, EGFR, focal adhesion, VEGFR and cytoskeletal rearrangement pathways. We also observed a rapid induction of phosphorylation of protein tyrosine phosphatases, including PTPN11 and PTPRA, upon GAS6 stimulation. The novel molecules downstream of AXL identified in this study along with the detailed global quantitative map elucidating the temporal dynamics of AXL activation should not only help understand the oncogenic role of AXL, but also aid in developing therapeutic options to effectively target AXL.
Project description:To further characterize the influence of Mr BMT on the brains of ALSP mouse, we harvested brains from CSF1R WT/WT, naïve CSF1R WT/I792T and Mr BMT-treated CSF1R WT/I792T (deficient gene replaced by normal gene) mice for single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq)
Project description:To investigate the gene expression in brain tissues of Pla2g2e-deficient and wild-type mice, we performed gene expression profiling analysis using data obtained from Microarray of brain tissues collected from neuron-specific Pla2g2e-deficient and wild-type mice.