Gene expression changes accompanying vascular tortuosity

To gain insight into vascular tortuosity, we analyzed gene expression in normal and tortuous vessels. We induced vascular tortuosity in basilar artery using bilateral common carotid artery ligation in One-year old SD rats. Four weeks after the ligation, total RNA was extracted. Equal amounts of RNA from four rats were pooled and 50 ng RNA was subjected to microarray analysis. Pooled RNA from four Sham operated rats were used as a control.