Gene expression changes in brain vascularture in Notch3 knockout mice. Mus musculus

Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) are important for contraction, blood flow distribution and regulation of blood vessel diameter, but to what extent they contribute to the integrity of blood vessels and blood-brain barrier function is less well understood. In this report, we explored the impact of the progressive loss of VSMC in the Notch3-/- mouse on blood vessel integrity in the central nervous system To explore the molecular consequences of the VSMC phenotype in Notch3-/- mice, we performed genome-wide transcriptional profiling of the brain vasculature in mutants and littermate controls using Affymetrix Mouse Genome 430 2.0 Array. Overall design: Three Notch3 knockout and three littermate control mice at age of 2 months were used to profile the transcriptomes. Total RNA was extracted from cerebral and cerebellar microvascular fragments and hyrbridized separately on the Mouse Genome 430 2.0 Array according to standard procedures.

血管平滑肌细胞（vascular smooth muscle cells, VSMC）对于血管收缩、血流分布以及血管管径调控具有关键作用，但其在维持血管完整性与血脑屏障（blood-brain barrier）功能方面的贡献程度尚未得到充分阐明。本研究中，我们探究了Notch3基因敲除（Notch3-/-）小鼠中血管平滑肌细胞进行性缺失对中枢神经系统血管完整性的影响。为解析Notch3基因敲除小鼠血管平滑肌细胞表型的分子效应，我们使用Affymetrix Mouse Genome 430 2.0芯片，对突变体小鼠及同窝对照小鼠的脑血管组织开展了全基因组转录谱分析。实验设计：选取3只2月龄的Notch3基因敲除小鼠与3只同窝对照小鼠进行转录组分析。按照标准实验流程，从大脑及小脑的微血管片段中提取总RNA，并分别在Mouse Genome 430 2.0芯片上完成杂交反应。