Transgene expression of AKR7A1. (A) The DNA construct was designed for liver-specific expression using the pLiv-7 vector containing sequences from the human APOE gene: 3 kb of 5′-flanking region (black); the first exon (E1, dotted), first intron (open), and first six nucleotides of the second exon (E2, dotted); 0.25 kb of 3′-flanking region including the polyadenylation signal (dashed) and a 1.7-kb hepatic control region of the APOE/C-I gene locus (gray). The AKR7A1 cDNA was inserted into the polylinker region using the KpnI and XhoI restriction sites. (B) Transgene expression of AKR7A1. Protein levels of AKR7A1 in samples of liver cytosol (30 μg protein/lane) from one male (M) and one female (F) of four separate AKR7A1 transgenic rat lines were analyzed by immunoblot. The samples, identified at the top, are nontransgenic genetic control animals (neg), transgenic animals (pos), and nontransgenic rats pretreated with 3H-1,2-dithiole-3-thione (D3T) a known inducer of AKR7A1.