Temporal effects of intermittent- and sustained hypoxia on gene expression patterns in rat lungs

Time-course gene expression profiles were obtained from lung tissues of the rats treated with room air, intermittent- (IH) or sustained hypoxia (SH) for 1, 3, 7, 14 and 30 days using CodeLink microarrays. Using a systems biology approach, we observed that two different mechanisms are involved in the lung responses to IH and SH: IH leads to increased G-protein coupled signaling-, ion transport-, neuronal- and steroid hormone receptor activities; whereas SH causes increased blood vessel morphogenesis and immune responses. Our results provide insight into molecular mechanisms underlying IH and SH. Keywords: gene expression array-based, count rats were treated with intermittent- (IH) or sustained hypoxia (SH) for 1, 3, 7, 14 and 30 days; rats treated with room air were used as controls; gene expression profiles were obtained from these rats