title: Diurnal Variation Has Effect on Differential Gene Expression Analysis in the Hippocampus of the Pilocarpine-Induced Model of Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.
abstract: The molecular mechanisms underlying epileptogenesis have been widely investigated by differential gene expression approach, especially RT-qPCR methodology. However, controversial findings highlight the occurrence of unpredictable sources of variance in the experimental designs. Here, we investigated if diurnal rhythms of transcript's levels may impact on differential gene expression analysis in hippocampus of rats with experimental epilepsy. For this, we have selected six core clock genes (Per1, Per3, Bmal1, Clock, Cry1 and Cry2), whose rhythmic expression pattern in hippocampus had been previously reported. Initially, we identified Tubb2a/Rplp1 and Tubb2a/Ppia as suitable normalizers for circadian studies in hippocampus of rats maintained to 12:12 hour light:dark (LD) cycle. Next, we confirmed the temporal profiling of Per1, Per3, Bmal1, Cry1 and Cry2 mRNA levels in the hippocampus of naive rats by both Acrophase and CircWave statistical tests for circadian analysis. Finally, we showed that temporal differences of sampling can change experimental results for Per1, Per3, Bmal1, Cry1 and Cry2, but not for Clock, which was consistently decreased in rats with epilepsy in all comparison to the naive group. In conclusion, our study demonstrates it is mandatory to consider diurnal oscillations, in order to avoid erroneous conclusions in gene expression analysis in hippocampus of rats with epilepsy. Investigators, therefore, should be aware that genes with circadian expression could be out of phase in different animals of experimental and control groups. Moreover, our results indicate that a sub-expression of Clock may be involved in epileptogenicity, although the functional significance of this remains to be investigated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences and Health, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceio, Alagoas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Evelin Antonieli da Silva
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences and Health, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceio, Alagoas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thalita Ewellyn Batista Sales
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences and Health, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceio, Alagoas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Heloísa de Carvalho
authors.initials: Hde C
authors.lastname: Matos
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: João Pereira
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Leite
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Norberto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Garcia-Cairasco
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Paçó-Larson
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences and Health, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceio, Alagoas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniel Leite Góes
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Gitaí
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000235:genetics*; D003624:Darkness; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D010862:Pilocarpine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D010862:Pilocarpine