BioProject

Our previous findings suggest that the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), a pivotal region for regulating the set-point of arterial pressure, exhibits abnormal inflammation in pre-hypertensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) together with elevated anti-apoptotic and low apoptotic factor levels compared with that of normotensive Wistar–Kyoto (WKY) rats. More...

Our previous findings suggest that the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), a pivotal region for regulating the set-point of arterial pressure, exhibits abnormal inflammation in pre-hypertensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) together with elevated anti-apoptotic and low apoptotic factor levels compared with that of normotensive Wistar–Kyoto (WKY) rats. Whether this chronic condition affects neuronal growth and plasticity in the NTS remains unknown. To unveil the characteristics of the neurodevelopmental environment in the NTS of hypertensive rats, we investigated the gene expression profile of neurotrophins and their receptors in SHRs compared to that of normotensive rat WKY. Overall design: The NTS was dissected from the brain of 6 SHRs and 6 WKY rats and the total RNA was extracted. In both groups of rats (SHRs & WKY rats, n = 6 each), a total of 2 ug mRNA extracts from each NTS were pooled together, treated with RNase-free DNAse I (Invitrogen Life technologies) to remove any genomic contamination, and further purified using the RNeasy mini kit (Qiagen) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Reverse transcription was subsequently performed on 1 ug total RNA using SuperArray’s RT2 First Strand Kit (SABiosciences); the resulting cDNA was submitted for real-time quantitative PCR reactions on RT2 ProfilerTM PCR array plates using Superarray RT2 SYBR Green qPCR Master Mix (SAbiosciences) and iCycler iQ thermal cycler (Bio-rad), following the manufacturer’s instructions. The experiment was performed in duplicate in each group. Less...