Cell and Developmental Biology Commons^™

An Analysis Of The Myocardial Transcriptome In A Mouse Model Of Cardiac Dysfunction With Decreased Cholinergic Neurotransmission, Ashbeel Roy, Aline Lara, Diogo Guimaraes, Rita Pires, Eneas R. Gomes, David E. Carter, Marcus V. Gomez, Silvia Guatimosim, Vania F. Prado, Marco A. M. Prado, Robert Gros

Anatomy and Cell Biology Publications

Autonomic dysfunction is observed in many cardiovascular diseases and contributes to cardiac remodeling and heart disease. We previously reported that a decrease in the expression levels of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) in genetically-modified homozygous mice (VAChT KDHOM) leads to decreased cholinergic tone, autonomic imbalance and a phenotype resembling cardiac dysfunction. In order to further understand the molecular changes resulting from chronic long-term decrease in parasympathetic tone, we undertook a transcriptome-based, microarray-driven approach to analyze gene expression changes in ventricular tissue from VAChT KDHOM mice. We demonstrate that a decrease in cholinergic tone is associated with alterations in gene expression …