Hypothalamic expression differences between hypertensive BPH/2J during circadian variations of blood pressure

Identification of hypothalamic genes whose expression differs between active (peak of blood pressure) and inactive periods in the high blood pressure (BPH/2J) Schlager mouse, adjusted by their age- and activity-matched normal blood pressure (BPN/3J) controls using Affymetrix GeneChip® Mouse Gene 1.0 ST Arrays. The whole hypothalamus was removed from BPH/2J and age-matched BPN/2J (n=3/group, 19 week old, ‘trough’ blood pressure) in the inactive period, when the blood pressure levels of the BPH/2J and BPN/3J models are similar. Hypothalamus of BPH/2J and age-matched BPN/2J (n=6/group, 26 week old, ‘peak’ blood pressure) were collected on the same way at the peak of the circadian variation, when there blood pressure difference between the strains was maximal. No pooling was performed. After extraction of RNA, cRNA was prepared and arrays performed using Affymetrix GeneChip® Mouse Gene 1.0 ST Arrays performed at the Ramaciotti Gene Function Analysis facility, University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.