Figure 3

Microarray examination and validation via qRT-PCR

(a) Principal component analysis (PCA) for all transcripts identified in the microarrays (left) and for the DEGs having a FC ≥ ±1.5 and a P value ≤ 0.05 (right). Each spot subsumes the DEGs of one biological replicate (four control animals, blue, four dysp samples, orange). (b) Heat map representing the log₂ expression values for the DEGs having a FC ≥ ±1.5 and P value ≤ 0.05. Each column represents one biological replicate (columns 1 to 4 represent the dysp replicates and columns 5 to 8 represent the control group). (c, d) We selected 7 DEGs from the microarrays for re-examination via qRT-PCR: 4 downregulated genes with FCs −1.50 (Trib1), −2.07 (c-Jun), −2.43 (c-Fos) and −10.85 (Myl2) (c), as well as 3 upregulated genes with FCs 1.50 (Flcn), 2.02 (Bai3) and 5.13 (Col19a1) (d). Gapdh was used as an intrinsic reference. The mRNA levels are expressed as the mean FC of the 4 biological replicates of each group (dysp and control), normalized to the FC of the respective control, ±S.E.M.