title: Female rat transcriptome response to infraorbital nerve transection differs from that of males: RNA-seq.
abstract: The effects of infraorbital nerve (ION) transection on gene expression in the adult female rat barrel cortex were investigated using RNA sequencing. After a 24-hour survival duration, 28 genes were differentially regulated by ION transection. Differentially expressed genes suggest microglial activity, increased retrograde ciliary transport, and a decrease in inhibition. These changes may be functionally comparable to changes in the male barrel cortex, where changes in genes related to morphology, neuronal activity, and neuronal excitability were observed. However, the patterns in changes in gene expression are vastly different between male and female rats. The results strongly caution against the practice of generalizing data from one sex to both sexes. This cautionary note has potentially profound implications for a range of research lines, including substance abuse and stress, both research domains in which subjects have been predominantly males. Future research needs to employ sex as a classification variable, as sex differences can generally be expected. Future research is also needed to confirm that changes in gene expression observed with RNA-seq correlate with changes in protein expression. J. Comp. Neurol. 525:140-150, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: John J
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3034-4731
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Orczyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Batka
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Ashleigh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gore
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Michelena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maio-Lexa
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Akhil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.|Program in Neuroscience, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Preston E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Garraghty
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008442:Maxillary Nerve / Q000293:injuries* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D012683:Sensory Deprivation / Q000502:physiology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger
keywords: (RRID:OMICS_01813); CLC main workbench; SD Sprague-Dawley rats (RRID:RGD_70508); cerebral cortex; ingenuity pathway analysis (RRID:nif-0000-33144); injury; plasticity