Basic Research
Copyright ©2005 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 21, 2005; 11(19): 2932-2940
Published online May 21, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i19.2932
Expressed genes in regenerating rat liver after partial hepatectomy
Cun-Shuan Xu, Cui-Fang Chang, Jin-Yun Yuan, Wen-Qiang Li, Hong-Peng Han, Ke-Jin Yang, Li-Feng Zhao, Yu-Chang Li, Hui-Yong Zhang, Salman Rahman, Jing-Bo Zhang
Cun-Shuan Xu, Cui-Fang Chang, Jin-Yun Yuan, Hong-Peng Han, Ke-Jin Yang, Li-Feng Zhao, College of Life Science, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, Henan Province, China
Salman Rahman, Homophilia Research Center, London University, London SE17EH, UK
Wen-Qiang Li, Yu-Chang Li, Hui-Yong Zhang, Jing-Bo Zhang, Key Laboratory for Cell Differentiation Regulation, Xinxiang 453007, Henan Province, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Professor Cun-Shuan Xu, College of Life Science, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, Henan Province, China. xucs@x263.net.cn
Telephone: +86-373-3326001 Fax: +86-373-3326524
Received: June 8, 2004
Revised: June 9, 2004
Accepted: August 5, 2004
Published online: May 21, 2005
Abstract

AIM: To reveal the liver regeneration (LR) and its control as well as the occurrence of liver disease and to study the gene expression profiles of 551 genes after partial hepatectomy (PH) in regenerating rat livers.

METHODS: Five hundred and fifty-one expressed sequence tags screened by suppression subtractive hybridization were made into an in-house cDNA microarray, and the expressive genes and their expressive profiles in regenerating rat livers were analyzed by microarray and bioinformatics.

RESULTS: Three hundred of the analyzed 551 genes were up- or downregulated more than twofolds at one or more time points during LR. Most of the genes were up- or downregulated 2-5 folds, but the highest reached 90 folds of the control. One hundred and thirty-nine of them showed upregulation, 135 displayed downregulation, and up or down expression of 26 genes revealed a dependence on regenerating livers. The genes expressed in 24-h regenerating livers were much more than those in the others. Cluster analysis and generalization analysis showed that there were at least six distinct temporal patterns of gene expression in the regenerating livers, that is, genes were expressed in the immediate early phase, early phase, intermediate phase, early-late phase, late phase, terminal phase.

CONCLUSION: In LR, the number of down-regulated genes was almost similar to that of the upregulated genes; the successively altered genes were more than the rapidly transient genes. The temporal patterns of gene expression were similar 2 and 4 h, 12 and 16 h, 48 and 96 h, 72 and 144 h after PH. Microarray combined with suppressive subtractive hybridization can effectively identify the genes related to LR.

Keywords: Subtracted cDNA libraries; Complementary DNA microarray; Liver regeneration; Partial hepatectomy; Cluster analysis