Gene expression profiling in Wistar male rat left ventricle with chronic and severe aortic valve regurgitation

Aortic valve regurgitation (AR) imposes a severe volume overload to the left ventricle (LV) which results in dilation, eccentric hypertrophy and eventually loss of function. Little is known about the impact of AR on LV gene expression. We therefore conducted a gene expression profiling study in the LV of male Wistar rats with chronic (9 months) and severe AR. Five male Wistar rats had one or two aortic valve leaflets punctured with a catheter under echocardiographic guidance in order to induce severe regurgitation (>65% of blood regurgitating during diastole from the aorta to the left ventricle). Five additional rats were sham-operated. The animals were sacrificed 9 months after the procedure and their left ventricle collected for RNA extraction and microarray analysis.