Gene expression microarray analysis of whole mouse hamstring muscles to identify genes promoting the devlopment of neurogenic heterotopic ossifications following spinal cord injury

To better understand which genes/pathways are activated in injured muscles following a spinal cord injury (SCI) and how these promote the development of neurogenic heterotopic ossification (NHO), we performed gene expression profiling by microarray of muscles in the early phase following muscle injury. Total RNA was isolated from injured hamstring muscles two days post-injury from four experimental groups: 1) Spinal cord injury (SCI) + cardiotoxin (CDTX): SCI plus intramuscular (i.m.) CDTX injection, the only condition in which NHOs form in the injured muscle; 2) SCI+Saline: SCI surgery plus i.m. injection of saline); 3) Sham+CDTX: Sham surgery plus i.m. injection of CDTX, ; or 4) Sham+Saline.