Dissecting the Genetic Architecture of Renal Function and the biomarker Cystatin C in Aging

In this study, we utilized 95 Diversity Outbred (DO) female mice, 56 weeks of age, to perform eQTL analysis of renal biomarkers in blood and urine. We also determined the correlation between kidney biomarkers and expression levels of the genes in kidney. Female Diversity Outbred mice (n = 120; J: DO; G16; JAX stock number 009376) were obtained from the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME) at 4 weeks of age. The mice were group housed (n = 5 mice per cage) and maintained on chow diets. At about 56 weeks of age, mice were injected intraperitoneally with a volume of sterile isotonic saline equivalent to 10 percent of their body weight and on the following day mice were fasted for 4 hours, anesthetized, and dissected to kidney samples for micro array analysis. Microarray data were available from 95 kidney samples本研究选取95只56周龄的雌性多样性远交（Diversity Outbred, DO）小鼠，针对血液与尿液中的肾脏生物标志物开展表达数量性状位点（expression Quantitative Trait Locus, eQTL）分析，同时测定了肾脏生物标志物与肾脏组织基因表达水平之间的相关性。本研究共使用120只雌性多样性远交小鼠（Diversity Outbred, DO；品系标识：J: DO; G16；JAX品系编号009376），于4周龄时从美国缅因州巴尔港的杰克逊实验室（Jackson Laboratory）购得。小鼠以每笼5只的密度群居饲养，饲喂常规维持饲料。待小鼠长至约56周龄时，按其体重10%的体积向其腹腔注射无菌等渗生理盐水；次日对小鼠禁食4小时后实施麻醉，解剖取材肾脏样本用于基因芯片（microarray）分析。最终获得95份肾脏样本的基因芯片数据。