title: Quantitative expression profiling in mouse spinal cord reveals changing relationships among channel and receptor mRNA levels across postnatal maturation.
abstract: Neural networks ultimately arrive at functional output via interaction of the excitability of individual neurons and their synaptic interactions. We investigated the relationships between voltage-gated ion channel and neurotransmitter receptor mRNA levels in mouse spinal cord at four different postnatal time points (P5, P11, P17, and adult) and three different adult cord levels (cervical, thoracic, and lumbosacral) using quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Our analysis and data visualization are novel in that we chose a focal group of voltage-gated channel subunits and transmitter receptor subunits, performed absolute quantitation of mRNA copy number for each gene from a sample, and used multiple correlation analyses and correlation matrices to detect patterns in correlated mRNA levels across all genes of interest. These correlation profiles suggest that postnatal maturation of the spinal cord includes changes among channel and receptor subunits that proceed from widespread co-regulation to more refined and distinct functional relationships.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
authors.forename: V B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; C.S. Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. Electronic address: schulzd@missouri.edu.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Schulz
mesh_terms: D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008161:Lumbosacral Region; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae
chemical_list: D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase; C548245:Ache protein, mouse
keywords: gene expression; ion channels; neurotransmitter receptor; real-time PCR; spinal cord maturation