Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 10, 2026

A Stainless Protocol for High Quality RNA Isolation from Laser Capture Microdissected Purkinje Cells in the Human Post-Mortem Cerebellum

A Stainless Protocol for High Quality RNA Isolation from Laser Capture Microdissected Purkinje Cells in the Human Post-Mortem Cerebellum

Published on: January 17, 2019

Postmortem interval effect on RNA and gene expression in human brain tissue.

Alex C Birdsill¹, Douglas G Walker, LihFen Lue

¹Civin Laboratory for Neuropathology, Brain and Body Donation Program, Banner Sun Health Research Institute, 10515 West Santa Fe Drive, Sun City, AZ 85351, USA.

Cell and Tissue Banking

|August 13, 2010

Summary

Postmortem interval (PMI) significantly impacts RNA integrity and gene expression in brain tissue. Longer PMI correlates with degraded RNA and decreased gene expression, affecting neurological disease research findings.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Parkinson Disease Neuropathological Comorbidities: Prevalences from Younger-Old to Older-Old, With Comparison to Non-Demented, Non-Parkinsonian Subjects.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences·2025

Same author

Localization of Thioredoxin-Interacting Protein in Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Brains.

NeuroSci·2024

Same author

Clinicopathological Heterogeneity of Lewy Body Diseases: The Profound Influence of Comorbid Alzheimer's Disease.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences·2024

Same author

Whole-Cell Dissociated Suspension Analysis in Human Brain Neurodegenerative Disease: A Pilot Study.

Journal of tissue science & engineering·2024

Same author

Correlation of Presynaptic and Postsynaptic Proteins with Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease.

International journal of molecular sciences·2024

Same author

Symmetry of synuclein density in autopsied Parkinson's disease submandibular glands.

Neuroscience letters·2024

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Molecular Biology
Genomics

Background:

Banked postmortem brain tissue is crucial for neurological disease research.
Postmortem interval (PMI) is a significant confounding factor in molecular analyses of brain tissue.
Previous studies show conflicting results regarding PMI's effect on RNA integrity and gene expression.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the impact of postmortem interval (PMI) on RNA quality and gene expression in human brain tissue.
To determine how PMI affects specific gene transcripts relevant to neurological diseases.

Main Methods:

Analysis of total RNA extracted from frozen cerebellar cortex of 79 human subjects.
Measurement of RNA quality (RIN, yield) and expression of 89 genes using PCR arrays.

More Related Videos

Obtaining High Quality RNA from Single Cell Populations in Human Postmortem Brain Tissue

Obtaining High Quality RNA from Single Cell Populations in Human Postmortem Brain Tissue

Published on: August 6, 2009

A Chromatin Assay for Human Brain Tissue

A Chromatin Assay for Human Brain Tissue

Published on: March 21, 2008

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 10, 2026

A Stainless Protocol for High Quality RNA Isolation from Laser Capture Microdissected Purkinje Cells in the Human Post-Mortem Cerebellum

A Stainless Protocol for High Quality RNA Isolation from Laser Capture Microdissected Purkinje Cells in the Human Post-Mortem Cerebellum

Published on: January 17, 2019

Obtaining High Quality RNA from Single Cell Populations in Human Postmortem Brain Tissue

Obtaining High Quality RNA from Single Cell Populations in Human Postmortem Brain Tissue

Published on: August 6, 2009

A Chromatin Assay for Human Brain Tissue

A Chromatin Assay for Human Brain Tissue

Published on: March 21, 2008

Statistical analysis correlating PMI with RNA integrity and gene expression levels.

Main Results:

PMI negatively correlated with RNA Integrity Number (RIN) and RNA yield.
A significant decrease in the expression of most analyzed genes (65/89) was observed with increasing PMI.
Specific genes (ADAM9, LPL, PRKCG, SERPINA3) showed significantly decreased expression as PMI increased.

Conclusions:

RNA integrity and gene expression are progressively compromised with longer postmortem intervals.
Gene expression measurements in brain tissue with extended PMI may yield artificially low values.
Shorter PMI is recommended for autopsy-derived tissues to optimize their utility in molecular research.