Transcriptional characterization of reproductive driven liver remodeling

The liver undergoes tissue remodeling throughout the course of a reproductive cycle. During pregnancy/lactation the liver expands in size. Post-weaning, the liver goes through involution, returning to a pre-pregnant state. Here, we deeply, and unbiasedly, characterize the transcriptional profiles in the murine liver across a lactation/wean cycle to reveal the underlying molecular changes associated with these distinct reproductive states. To investigate changes to the liver over a reproductive cycle we conducted bulk RNAseq on livers of wildtype BALB/C mice over the course a reproductive cycle. Mice were bred at 10-12 weeks of age, and litter size was normalized for even lactation burden. Pups were weaned between 10-14 days of lactation to generate synchronized involution groups. Whole livers were isolated from age matched animals at the following time points: non-pregnant (nulliparous), lactation day 10, post-wean days 2, 4, 6, 8 (involution days 2, 4, 6, 8), and 4-weeks post-wean (regressed). Livers were flash frozen and pulverized prior to RNA extraction.