Gene Profiling in Mouse Fetal Ductus Arteriosus

The ductus arteriosus (DA) is a fetal vascular shunt that is located between the main pulmonary artery and the aorta. Oxygenated fetal blood from the placenta is shunted past the uninflated fetal lungs, crosses the DA, and is then available to the peripheral organs. In utero closure of the DA is deleterious, but postnatal closure of the DA is necessary for establishment of pulmonary circulation and the transition to newborn life. We used microarrays to compare ductus arteriosis (DA) and aortic gene expression at a single time point (day 19 of gestation, which is the day of expected delivery). DA and corresponding aortic vascular segments from fetal mice on day 19 of gestation were collected from every pup in a litter (up to the first 10 pups). These samples were pooled and considered representative of the DA's or aortas from one pregnant female. Tissues were homogenized via 27g needle, per GentraSystems Versagene kit动脉导管（ductus arteriosus, DA）是一种位于主肺动脉与主动脉之间的胎儿血管分流道。源自胎盘的含氧胎儿血液绕过尚未充气扩张的胎肺，经动脉导管分流，随后可供给外周器官使用。子宫内动脉导管闭合会产生有害影响，但出生后动脉导管闭合对于建立肺循环以及完成向新生生命的过渡是必不可少的。本研究利用微阵列（microarrays）技术，在单个时间点（妊娠第19天，即预期分娩当日）对比动脉导管与主动脉的基因表达水平。我们从妊娠第19天的胎鼠每窝幼崽中采集动脉导管及对应的主动脉血管节段（最多采集前10只幼崽样本）。将这些样本进行混合，以代表单只孕鼠的动脉导管或主动脉组织。参照GentraSystems Versagene试剂盒的操作规范，使用27G针头对组织进行匀浆处理。