Differential gene expression profiling and biological process analysis in proximal nerve segments after sciatic nerve transection

PLoS One. 2013;8(2):e57000. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057000. Epub 2013 Feb 21.

Abstract

After traumatic injury, peripheral nerves can spontaneously regenerate through highly sophisticated and dynamic processes that are regulated by multiple cellular elements and molecular factors. Despite evidence of morphological changes and of expression changes of a few regulatory genes, global knowledge of gene expression changes and related biological processes during peripheral nerve injury and regeneration is still lacking. Here we aimed to profile global mRNA expression changes in proximal nerve segments of adult rats after sciatic nerve transection. According to DNA microarray analysis, the huge number of genes was differentially expressed at different time points (0.5 h-14 d) post nerve transection, exhibiting multiple distinct temporal expression patterns. The expression changes of several genes were further validated by quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis. The gene ontology enrichment analysis was performed to decipher the biological processes involving the differentially expressed genes. Collectively, our results highlighted the dynamic change of the important biological processes and the time-dependent expression of key regulatory genes after peripheral nerve injury. Interestingly, we, for the first time, reported the presence of olfactory receptors in sciatic nerves. Hopefully, this study may provide a useful platform for deeply studying peripheral nerve injury and regeneration from a molecular-level perspective.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Computational Biology
  • Gene Expression Profiling*
  • Gene Expression Regulation*
  • Male
  • Molecular Sequence Annotation
  • Nerve Regeneration / genetics*
  • Peripheral Nerve Injuries / genetics*
  • Rats
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sciatic Nerve / injuries*
  • Time Factors

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, grant no. 2012AA020502), the State Key Program of National Natural Science of China (grant no. 81130080) and a Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.