Expression data from 28 day sham and shunt atrial tissues (set 2)

Pharmacological and gene ablation studies have demonstrated a crucial role of the caridac natriuretic peptides (NP) hormones ANF and BNP in the maintenance of cardiovascular homeostasis. Considerable effort has been focused on the elucidation of the mechanistic underlying increased atrial ANF and BNP expression and secretion. These investigations are important because under chronic congestive heart failure, the secretion of NPs although increased and beneficial, is relatively insufficient as demonstrated by the fact that patients benefit form the unloading of the heart induced by therapeutic administration of either ANF or BNP. To identify genes involved in the transcriptional response of the endocrine heart under normal and stimulated states, we conducted differential gene expression studies of the rat atria under normal or chronic volume overload, induced by aorto-caval shunt. The left and right atrial appendages were obtained from 28 day sham and shunt operated male Sprague Dawley rats. Total RNA was obtained from three pools (of two tissues) of right atria and left atria under sham and shunt conditions. Three biological replicates for each muscle type and condition were generated.