Transcriptomic Analysis of Mild Hypothermia-dependent Alterations during Endothelial Reperfusion Injury

Background: Mild hypothermia (32-34 C) improves resistance to ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. However, the mechanisms by which it affects human cellular function are not fully elucidated. To further test for hypothermic modulation of global biological processes, we used DNA microarray technique to detect the overall gene expression profile. Methods: Human umbilical endothelial cells (HUVECs) were incubated under control condition (37 degrees C) or mild hypothermia (33 degrees C) for 2 hours after stimulated ischemia. Detection of differentially expressed genes was performed with Affymetrix U133 plus 2.0 arrays and PARTEK software. We used DAVID and KEGG Pathways database to identify global trends in gene expression data. Results: Our analysis has identified numerous interesting genes and processes that are differentially presented in hypothermic group when compared with normothermic control. The cell cycle was the most prominent process; several genes involved in cell apoptosis and proliferation displayed significantly differential expression; lower transcriptional level was observed for genes involved in chemokine and cell adhesion processes; genes associated with activity of transmembrane transporter and lipase were also under-expressed. Conclusion: Our data indicated that mild hypothermia altered endothelial expression pattern under the condition of I/R, preferably through varying the expression of genes associated with cell cycle, apoptosis, proliferation, and inflammatory response. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel