Gene expression and complex network analyis of effects of anaethesia. Rattus norvegicus

Most gene array studies use analysis of differential gene expression which gives no information on the interactions between genes We used complex systems analyis of gene expression data to study brain gene expression in rats following a brief period of anaesthesia using isoflurane Overall design: Male Sprague Dawley rats were studied (250-300g) following exposure for 15 minutes to either isoflurane in oxygen at a steady state concentration of 2% or oxygen alone. Anaimals were alowed to recover for 6 hours before brains were removed for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays to obtain expression profiles from which complex networks could be generated