Expression data from pregnant rat hearts

Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) causes cardiovascular dysfunction and is associated with many complications during pregnancy related to reduced NO bioactivity. The mechanisms of HHcy on the NO-dependent control of myocardial metabolism was compared with L-NAME, which directly inhibits NO bioavailability, treated animals. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression underlying hyperhomocysteinemia during pregnancy and identified distinct classes of differentially regulated genes. Female SD rats were mated with male SD rats. Methionine was used to generate hyperhomocysteinemia model. L-NAME was used to generate NO restricted model. After treatment, the left ventricles were harvested for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.