Expression data from heterotopically grafted mouse small intestinal epithelium and the normal colonic epithelium. Mus musculus

Epithelia of small and large intestines differ in their structures and functions. Such heterogeneity between these two epithelial tissues might be controlled by both epithelium-intrinsic and -extrinsic programs. By employing the cell transplantation technique developed in our laboratory, we investigated how adult SI epithelial cells behave when heterotopically transplanted onto colon. Then the gene expression profiles of small intestinal epithelium heterotopically transplanted onto colon and control colonic epithelium were compared. We used laser capture microdissection and microarray analysis to compare the global gene expression profiles of small intestinal epithelium in the heterotopically grafted tissues and control colonic epithelium. Overall design: Dissected epithelia obtained from serial sections (~ 30 sections) of each specimen were combined and then total RNA extraction was performed. After calculating RNA Integrity Number (RIN), we subjected one graft sample and one control colon sample, which showed the highest RIN value, for the following gene expression analysis.