Expression of transcription factors in the brain of rats with perinatal asphyxia.

No information is available on transcription factors (TF), the main regulators of gene expression, in perinatal asphyxia (PA), and as pathomechanisms in PA are different, data on TFs from ischemia or hypoxia cannot be simply extrapolated to PA, and no studies have been reported to show an expressional pattern or the concerted action of TFs. We, therefore, used a gene-hunting technique, subtractive hybridization, to show sequences different in brains of normoxic and perinatally asphyxiated (10 and 20 min of asphyxia) rats. These subtracted sequences were identified by gene bank and assigned to individual genes.

Deficient brain snRNP70K in patients with Down syndrome.

The small nuclear ribonucleoprotein 70K (snRNP 70K; U1-70 kDa) is an integral part of the spliceosome, a large RNA-protein complex catalyzing the removal of introns from nuclear pre-mRNA. snRNP is one of the best-studied essential subunits of snRNPs, is highly conserved and its inactivation was shown to result in complete inhibition of splicing. Applying subtractive hybridization, we found a sequence with 100% identity to snRNP absent in fetal Down syndrome (DS) brain.

Evidence that taurine modulates osmoregulation by modification of osmolarity sensor protein ENVZ--expression.

Although the involvement of taurine in osmoregulation is well-documented and widely accepted, no detailed mechanism for this function has been reported so far. We used subtractive hybridization to study mRNA steady state levels of genes up- or downregulated by taurine. Rats were fed taurine 100 mg/kg body weight per day for a period of three days and hearts (total ventricular tissue) of experimental animals and controls were pooled and used for mRNA extraction.

Brain RNA polymerase and nucleolar structure in perinatal asphyxia of the rat.

Ribosomes are integral constitutens of the protein synthesis machinery. Polymerase I (POL I) is located in the nucleolus and transcribes the large ribosomal genes. POL I activity is decreased in ischemia but nothing is known so far on POL I in perinatal asphyxia.

Overexpression of DNAse I in brain of patients with Down syndrome.

Human DNAse I (EC 3.1.21.