The alteration of gene expression in cortex tissue following BALB/c rat aging / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To identify and clone rat aging-related genes to provide clues for human aging mechanism. Methods Improved different display reverse transcript-PCR method was applied to identify differentially expressed genes in cortex tissues of 4-month and 24-month old BALB/c mouse. Results Forty-two cDNA fragments with differential expression were identified, and 21 with increase and 21 with decrease of expression in old mice. Among them, 17 represented genes with known protein function, 12 represented known gene sequences but their protein function was unknown, and the other 13 probably belonged to new cDNAs. Among the genes with known protein function, 2 genes were associated with oxidative stress, 3 with energy production, and 4 with protein metabolism, respectively. Additionally, gene expression alterations were also found in those related to cell apoptosis, neurodegenerative disorder, and growth and development regulation. Conclusions Rat aging might be related with the alteration of oxidative stress status, energy production and protein metabolism.