Project description:PURPOSE: To provide a detailed gene expression profile of the normal postnatal mouse cornea. METHODS: Serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) was performed on postnatal day (PN)9 and adult mouse (6 week) total corneas. The expression of selected genes was analyzed by in situ hybridization. RESULTS: A total of 64,272 PN9 and 62,206 adult tags were sequenced. Mouse corneal transcriptomes are composed of at least 19,544 and 18,509 unique mRNAs, respectively. One third of the unique tags were expressed at both stages, whereas a third was identified exclusively in PN9 or adult corneas. Three hundred thirty-four PN9 and 339 adult tags were enriched more than fivefold over other published nonocular libraries. Abundant transcripts were associated with metabolic functions, redox activities, and barrier integrity. Three members of the Ly-6/uPAR family whose functions are unknown in the cornea constitute more than 1% of the total mRNA. Aquaporin 5, epithelial membrane protein and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) omega-1, and GST alpha-4 mRNAs were preferentially expressed in distinct corneal epithelial layers, providing new markers for stratification. More than 200 tags were differentially expressed, of which 25 mediate transcription. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to providing a detailed profile of expressed genes in the PN9 and mature mouse cornea, the present SAGE data demonstrate dynamic changes in gene expression after eye opening and provide new probes for exploring corneal epithelial cell stratification, development, and function and for exploring the intricate relationship between programmed and environmentally induced gene expression in the cornea. Keywords: other
Project description:To investigate the differences in microRNA expression profiles between fibrotic and normal livers, we performed microRNA microarrays for total RNA extracts isolated from mouse livers treated with carbontetrachloride (CCl4) or corn-oil for 10 weeks (n=3/group). MicroRNAs were considered to have significant differences in expression level when the expression difference showed more than two-fold change between the experimental and control groups at p<0.05. We found that 12 miRNAs were differentially expressed in CCl4-induced fibrotic liver.
Project description:Therapeutic hypothermia is a clinically effective treatment for various hypoxic and ischemic conditions, but the associated molecular mechanisms remain unclear. To gain insight into hypothermia-induced transcriptional response, mouse embryonic fibroblasts were exposed to mild hypothermia (32°C) or normothermia (37°C) for increasing time periods. We aimed to identify genes with temporally near-monotonic response as the most obvious candidates for mediating the therapeutic effects of hypothermia. Hypothermia was compared against normothermia at seven different time-points. Hypothermic and normothermic mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF, in 100 mm dishes, one array per time-point) were submitted to gene expression analysis using Mouse Gene 1.0 ST GeneChip® (Affymetrix) microarrays. Differential gene expression analysis was performed with R package DEMI (http://biit.cs.ut.ee/demi/).
Project description:Backgroud: among strategies to limit ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injuries in transplantation, cell therapy using stem cells to condition/repair transplanted organ appears promising. We hypothesized that using a cell therapy based on exosomes derived from Urine Progenitor Cells (UPCs) during hypothermic and normothermic machine perfusion can prevent IR-related kidney damages. Methods: we isolated and characterized porcine UPCs and their exosomes (Exo). Then these were used in an ex vivo preclinical porcine kidney preservation model. Kidneys were subjected to warm ischemia (32min) then preserved by Hypothermic Machine Perfusion (HMP) for 24h before 5h of Normothermic Machine Perfusion (NMP). Three groups were performed (n=5-6): Group 1 (G1): HMP/vehicle + NMP/vehicle, Group 2 (G2): HMP/Exo + NMP/vehicle, Group 3 (G3): HMP/Exo + NMP/Exo. Results: porcine UPCs were successfully isolated from urine and fully characterized as well as their exosomes which were found of expected size/phenotype. RNA-seq performed on kidney biopsies showed different profiles between G1 and G3 with regulation of potential IR targets of Exo therapy. Conclusions: we showed the feasibility/efficacy of UPC-exosomes for hypothermic/normothermic kidney conditioning prior to transplantation, paving the way of combining machine perfusion with exosome-based cell therapy for organ conditioning.