title: Common responses in gene expression by Ephedra herba in brain and heart of mouse.
abstract: The physiological activities of Ephedra herba have been investigated extensively, particularly in the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of Ephedra herba on the brain and heart have yet to be thoroughly elucidated at the whole genome level. Therefore, the present study focused on the identification of the regulatory pattern of gene expression occurring in response to Ephedra herba, using microarray assays in three mouse organs - namely, the brain, heart and liver. Interestingly, the brain and heart exhibited a similar reciprocal pattern of gene expression during the early stages after the administration of Ephedra herba, whereas the liver evidenced a different gene expression profile. Moreover, pathways analysis showed that genes regulated reciprocally by Ephedra herba were associated with neural disease-related functions, such as the Parkinson's disease pathway, in both the brain and the heart. Promoter sequence analysis demonstrated that reciprocally regulated genes could be classified into subgroups on the basis of the similarity of their transcription factor binding sequences, in which temporally up-regulated genes were clustered as distinctive subgroups. In conclusion, the brain and heart responded commonly to Ephedra herba with a temporally reciprocal pattern of gene expression.
authors.affiliation: Division of Constitutional Medicine Research, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea. buykim@kiom.re.kr
authors.forename: Bu-Yeo
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Li Hua
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Jong Yeol
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D029789:Ephedra; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D016678:Genome; D006321:Heart / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D014157:Transcription Factors; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts; D014157:Transcription Factors