Gene expression profiling of basal cells in rat epididymis

Basal cells represent a specific cell type in the epididymis, with specific functions. We performed gene expression analysis to detect differentially regulated genes in basal cells versus other, non-basal, cells in rat epididymis, in order to understand basal cell functions. Epididymides from 3 48-days old rats were isolated using magnetic separation to obtain basal cell and non-basal cell fractions. RNA was extracted and hybridized on Affymetrix RaGene 2.0 ST array. Experiments were done in triplicate.