Gene expression study of developing mammalian vestibular organ of wild type and Insulin-Like Growth Factor I deficient mice using Affymetrix whole transcript arrays

Insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) has a central role in mammalian hearing and hearing loss. The auditory and vestibular systems form the inner ear and have a common developmental origin. During chicken early development IGF-1 modulates neurogenesis of the cochleovestibular ganglion but no further studies have been conducted to explore the potential role of IGF-1 in the vestibular system. In this study we have compared the whole transcriptome of the vestibular organ from wild type and Igf1-/- mice at different developmental times. RNA was prepared from E18.5, P15 and P90 vestibular organs of Igf1-/- and Igf1+/+ mice and the transcriptome analyzed in triplicates using Affymetrix Mouse Gene 1.1 ST Array Plates.