Transcriptome in Rat Skeletal Muscle 1 month or 3 months after Early Protein Restriction

In the present study, we designed a 1-month protein restriction model using post-weaning rats, followed by a 2-month rebound feeding, to investigate how early life protein restriction affects overall body growth and muscle development, and whether these influences could be corrected by the following rebound feeding. Transcriptome profiling reveal that myogenic differentiation functions are upregulated while protein catabolism are downregulated as compensatory toward protein restriction, while endo-plasmic reticulum stress are enhanced, inducing undesired apoptosis. Postnatal protein-restriction treated rat muscle were used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.