Expression data from fetal mouse lung from mothers fed high fibre or acetate. Mus musculus

We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression in the fetal lung late in gestation, from mothers that had been fed normal chow, high fibre, or acetate in the drinking water. The experiment was designed to examine the hypothesis that metabolites of the mother i.e. acetate could cross the placenta and influence gene transcription in the fetus. Diets used were "Normal chow" (NC) (8720310), or "High-fiber" (SF11-025) (Specialty feeds, Perth, Australia. Acetate (200 mM) was provided in the drinking water and refreshed three times per week. Overall design: Gene expression in the lung may be affected by metabolites in utero. We examined whole lung of E21 fetuses from high-fiber fed mothers, normal chow fed mothers and acetate in drinking water fed mothers. Added fibre in the diet, or acetate in drinking water, would allow simple comparison with normal chow fed mothers, to determine whether fibre/acetate affected gene transcription in the fetal lung.