Temporal analysis of hippocampal gene co-expression networks in the hyperthermia model of febrile seizures

This study sought to investigate temporal changes in hippocampal gene co-expression networks during the development of rats submitted to hyperthermic seizures Total RNA was obtained from the rat ventral hippocampal CA3 region at four time points after HS and then subjected to oligonucleotide microarray profiling. Rat pups (n = 6-8 per group and time period) were divided into two groups: controls (CTRL) and animals submitted to hyperthermia-induced seizures (HS). The temporal endpoints were selected to investigate the acute (P12), latent (P30 and P60) and chronic (P120) stages of the animal model. A weighted gene co-expression network analysis was employed to investigate modules of co-expressed genes, as these genes may be associated to common biological functions. Differentially expressed genes were determined between the hyperthermic seizures group and the normothermic controls for each time interval.