Skeletal muscle gene expression in space‐flown rats

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Abstract
SPECIFIC AIMSMicrogravity and simulated conditions cause muscle atrophy through a distinct transcriptional alteration of skeletal muscle cells. To explore this issue in more detail, we examined the expression of ∼26,000 genes in gastrocnemius muscles of neonatal rats exposed to spaceflight, tail suspension or denervation by DNA microarray analysis and found two spaceflight-specific gene expression patterns in the muscle as well as key genes for elucidating the mechanisms of muscle wasting in space.PRINCIPAL FINDINGS1. The transcriptional response of skeletal muscle cells to spaceflight was different from those of the simulated conditionsScatter plot of DNA microarray analysis showed that the spaceflight markedly changed the gene expression in gastrocnemius muscle compared with tail suspension and denervation (Fig. 1⤻ , full data are available at http://www.hosp.med.tokushima-u.ac.jp/university/servlet/index?&level=4&reference=0/10 002/5/30010/20032). The numbers of the genes that exhibited more than eight...