Temporal analysis of hippocampal gene co-expression networks in the hyperthermia model of febrile seizures. Rattus norvegicus

This study sought to investigate temporal changes in hippocampal gene co-expression networks during the development of rats submitted to hyperthermic seizures Overall design: Total RNA was obtained from the rat ventral hippocampal CA3 region at four time points after HS and then subjected to oligonucleotide microarray profiling. Rat pups (n = 6-8 per group and time period) were divided into two groups: controls (CTRL) and animals submitted to hyperthermia-induced seizures (HS). The temporal endpoints were selected to investigate the acute (P12), latent (P30 and P60) and chronic (P120) stages of the animal model. A weighted gene co-expression network analysis was employed to investigate modules of co-expressed genes, as these genes may be associated to common biological functions. Differentially expressed genes were determined between the hyperthermic seizures group and the normothermic controls for each time interval.