Microarray gene expression profiling of aortic genes of APOE-deficient mice receiving atherosclerosis treatment with the antioxidant vitamin E

Hypercholesterolemic APOE-deficient mice are a widely used experimental model of atherosclerosis and increased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a prominent feature of atherosclerosis development. To study the impact of ROS on atherogenesis, we treated APOE-deficient mice for 7 months with the antioxidant vitamin E (2000 IU/kg diet) and performed whole genome microarray gene expression profiling of aortic genes. Microarray gene expression profiling was performed of whole aortas isolated from vitamin E-treated APOE-deficient relative to untreated APOE-deficient mice with overt atherosclerosis, and nontransgenic B6 control mice. Microarray gene expression profiling revealed that vitamin E treatment prevented atherosclerosis-related gene expression changes of the aortic intima and media. Microarray gene expression profiling was performed of whole aortas isolated from APOE-deficient mice with atherosclerosis relative to vitamin E-treated APOE-deficient mice, and nontransgenic B6 control mice. Three study groups were analyzed, i.e. 8 months-old untreated APOE-deficient mice with overt atherosclerosis, age-matched APOE-deficient mice treated for 7 months with the antioxidant vitamin E (2000 IU/kd diet), and nontransgenic B6 control (C57BL/6J) mice. Two biological replicates were made of each group, and total RNA of three aortas was pooled for one gene chip. The study complements microarray study GSE19286.载脂蛋白E（apolipoprotein E, APOE）缺陷高胆固醇血症小鼠是当前广泛应用的动脉粥样硬化实验模型，而活性氧（reactive oxygen species, ROS）生成增多是动脉粥样硬化发生发展的显著特征。为探究活性氧对动脉粥样硬化发生的影响，本研究对APOE缺陷小鼠施以抗氧化剂维生素E（2000 IU/kg饲料）处理7个月，并对其主动脉基因开展全基因组微阵列基因表达谱分析。本研究分别从经维生素E处理的APOE缺陷小鼠、未接受处理且已出现明显动脉粥样硬化的APOE缺陷小鼠，以及非转基因B6对照小鼠中分离完整主动脉，进行微阵列基因表达谱检测。分析结果显示，维生素E处理可阻断主动脉内膜与中膜的动脉粥样硬化相关基因表达变化。本研究还针对已出现动脉粥样硬化的APOE缺陷小鼠、经维生素E处理的APOE缺陷小鼠，以及非转基因B6对照小鼠的完整主动脉开展了微阵列基因表达谱分析。本研究共设置三个实验组：8月龄、未接受处理且已出现明显动脉粥样硬化的APOE缺陷小鼠；经抗氧化剂维生素E（2000 IU/kg饲料）处理7个月的同月龄APOE缺陷小鼠；以及非转基因B6对照（C57BL/6J）小鼠。每组均设置2次生物学重复，将3份主动脉的总RNA混合后用于一张基因芯片检测。本研究为微阵列研究GSE19286的补充性研究。