Differential gene expression between inbred Roman high- (RHA-I) and low- (RLA-I) avoidance rats

Microarray technology was used to explore differences in brain gene expression under basal conditions in two strains of psychogenetically selected rats which differ in anxiety/stress responses, the inbred Roman High-(RHA-I) and Roman Low-(RLA-I) Avoidance rats. Microarray analysis detected 14 up-regulated and 24 down-regulated genes in RLA-I vs. RHA-I rats functionally related to neurobiological processes. The differentially expressed genes CAMKK2, CRHBP, EPHX2, HOMER3, NDN, PRL and RPL6 were selected for microarray validation using qRT-PCR. EPHX2, CAMKK2 (both up-regulated in RLA-I vs. RHA-I rats) and HOMER3 (down-regulated in RLA-I vs. RHA-I rats) showed a similar tendency and fold-change both in microarray and RT-PCR analyses: PRL (up-regulated in RLA-I vs. RHA-I rats), CRHBP and RPL6 (both down-regulated in RLA-I vs. RHA-I animals) showed a similar tendency but a different order of magnitude of change among experiments: finally, NDN was validated neither in tendency nor in magnitude of change. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.