Abstract
RNA isolated from frozen human post-mortem brain tissue was used for analysis of five gene products with a recently developed sensitive and competitive RT-PCR technique. Samples varying in post-mortem intervals up to four days from controls, schizophrenics and alcoholics were analyzed. Evaluation of three housekeeping genes, as well as Trk B and Trk C demonstrated that the levels of mRNA transcripts were stable in brain samples at all time periods (one to four days) examined. This observation demonstrates that this RT-PCR protocol is a sensitive and reliable method to study relative amounts of mRNAs. The overall stability of housekeeping transcripts implicates the value of post-mortem brain samples for differential gene expression studies.
Publication types
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Comparative Study
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Actins / genetics
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Adult
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Aged
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Alcoholism / metabolism
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Brain / metabolism*
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Cadaver
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Drug Stability
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Female
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Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases / genetics
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Humans
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Male
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Middle Aged
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RNA, Messenger / chemistry
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RNA, Messenger / metabolism*
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Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / genetics
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Receptor, Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor
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Receptor, trkC
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Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor / genetics
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Reference Values
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Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
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Schizophrenia / metabolism*
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beta 2-Microglobulin / genetics
Substances
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Actins
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RNA, Messenger
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Receptor, Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor
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Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor
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beta 2-Microglobulin
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Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases
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Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
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Receptor, trkC