Genome wide identification of chromatin modifications in the hypothalamus during pubertal development. Rattus norvegicus

Histone modification analysis of hypothalami from female animals at different juvenile developmental reproductive stages. Results provide insight into the role of the hypothalamus in controlling the onset of puberty. Overall design: SD rats were housed (8/cage) in a controlled environment and euthanized at different ages ( PND=14, Early Juvenile: 21 days and Late Juvenile: 28 days) Rats were anesthetized and brains were rapidly removed. The medial basal hypothalamus (MBH) was dissected away from the rest of the brain and flash frozen. Chromatin was prepared and ChIP assays performed to detect H3K27me3, H3K27Ac and H3K4me1. After immunoprecipitation, DNA samples were amplified using LinDA whole genome amplification before sending them to the OSU Center for genome Research and Biocomputing for library preparation and sequencing.