Identification of genes characteristic of Zfp423-expressing perivascular cells in mouse epididymal adipose tissue. Mus musculus

Committed perivascular preadipocytes were genetically labelled in transgenic mice expressing GFP under the control of the locus (BAC) for Zfp423, a gene controlling preadipocyte determination. The overall goal was to identify genes differentially expressed between perivascular (PDGFRbeta+) GFP+ cells and perivascualar (PDGFRbeta+) GFP- cells from mouse epididymal adipose tissue. Overall design: Adipose stromal vascular fraction from epididymal fat of 5 week-old male Zfp423-GFP mice was labeled with fluorophore-conjugated antibodies recognizing PDGFRbeta, CD31, and CD45. Pdgfrbeta+; CD45/CD31- (herein Lin-) cells were then separated on the basis of GFP expression. GFP+ and GFP- from the PDGFRbeta+ Lin- perivascular population were collected by FACS into separate tubes. Triplicate biological samples were collected for RNA extraction and Illumina analysis.