9 Microarray analysis revealed aorta remodeling during experimental preeclampsia in rat

Abstract

Introduction Normal pregnancy requires adaptations of the maternal vasculature to ensure healthy fetal and placental development. During preeclampsia these adjustments are not well established, resulting in maternal hypertension and proteinuria. The effects of preeclampsia on the maternal vasculature are not yet fully understood. Objectives Compare vascular gene expression pattern during experimental preeclampsia in the rat with healthy pregnant rats using aortic tissue. Methods We used our previously established model for preeclampsia. Pregnant Wistar outbred rats were infused with low-dose lipopolysaccharide at day 14 of pregnancy to induce experimental preeclampsia (ExpPE) ( n = 5). Control pregnant rats were infused with saline ( n = 5) at the same gestational day. At day 20 of pregnancy, the animals were sacrificed and abdominal aortas were isolated. Total aortic RNA was isolated with TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen) and gene expression was measured by GeneChip Rat Gene 1.1 ST arrays (Affymetrix, Santa Clara CA). Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed to compare the two groups. Results 526 Genes were significantly ( p -value 1.4 or p -value q -value Conclusions Our data showed that experimental preeclampsia in rats resulted in changes in gene expression levels in the aorta compared to healthy pregnant rats. The data suggest that potassium channels and neuronal innervation in the aorta may play a role in the pathophysiology of experimental preeclampsia. If these changes are also present in preeclamptic women needs to be further investigated.