Defining the Phosphodiesterase Superfamily Members in Rat Brain Microvessels

A filtration method followed by microarray analyses allows PDE components to be identified in brain microvessels, and confirmed that PDE4D and PDE5A are the primary forms expressed in rat brain microvessels. Adult male F344 rats were sacrificed and blocks of the cerebral cortex and infratentorial areas were dissected. Microvessels were isolated using a filtration method, and total RNA was extracted. Two microarrays using four sample RNAs (microvessels from the cerebral cortex vs. microvessels from the infratentorial block) were included in the present study. Microarrays demonstrated that there were 16 PDE transcripts in the PDE superfamily, exhibiting quantifiable density in the microvessels.