Rattus norvegicus strain:Sprague Dawley Transcriptome or Gene expression. Rattus norvegicus strain:Sprague Dawley

Early postnatal overnutrition is associated with long-term negative outcomes in humans including obesity, increased risk of type-II diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Hypothalamic neurons from rodents exposed to early postnatal overnutrition show altered expression of and response to satiety and feeding signals. However, no research has examined the role of the subfornical organ (SFO), a forebrain sensory circumventricular organ with roles in energy balance and cardiovascular output, in response to early postnatal overnutrition. To that end, we performed whole transcriptome sequencing on SFO tissue from rats raised with early overnutrition due to smaller litter size (four per litter), or control (large, 12 per litter) litter size. Illumina RNA sequencing was performed on pooled subfornical organ samples from small and large litter rats, and read sequences were aligned to the Rat Rnor_6.0 genome. Data were compared to a previously published microarray data set for validation. We found statistically significant (p<0.05) changes in expression of 12 transcripts, of which 3 have known roles in neuronal excitability, neurite outgrowth and differentiation, and food intake (Manf, Slc24a4, Cracr2b). Additionally, gene ontology analysis identified a trend among significantly altered transcripts in roles for oxidative stress response. We conclude that the SFO transcriptome is altered by early postnatal overnutrition, and recommend further investigation of the effect of early postnatal overnutrition on SFO physiology and morphology, and the role of the differentially expressed transcripts uncovered here.