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Alterations in lung gene expression in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats
Erik van Lunteren1, Michelle Moyer, Sarah Spiegler
1Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Division, Department of Medicine, Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, 10701 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA. exv4@cwru.edu.
Background:
Diabetes profoundly affects gene expression in organs such as heart, skeletal muscle, kidney and liver, with areas of perturbation including carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and protein ubiquitination. Type 1 diabetes impairs lung function, but whether gene expression alterations in the lung parallel those of other tissue types is largely unexplored.
Methods:
Lung from a rat model of diabetes mellitus induced by streptozotocin was subjected to gene expression microarray analysis.
Results:
Glucose levels were 67 and 260 mg/dl (p < 0.001) in control and diabetic rats, respectively. There were 46 genes with at least ± 1.5-fold significantly altered expression (19 increases, 27 decreases). Gene ontology groups with significant over-representation among genes with altered expression included apoptosis, response to stress (p = 0.03), regulation of protein kinase activity (p = 0.04), ion transporter activity (p = 0.01) and collagen (p = 0.01). All genes assigned to the apoptosis and response to stress groups had increased expression whereas all genes assigned to the collagen group had decreased expression. In contrast, the protein kinase activity and ion transporter activity groups had genes with both increased and decreased expression.
Conclusions:
Gene expression in the lung is affected by type 1 diabetes in several specific areas, including apoptosis. However, the lung is resistant to changes in gene expression related to lipid and carbohydrate metabolism and oxidative stress that occur in other tissue types such as heart, skeletal muscle and kidney.
Insights
Type 1 diabetes alters lung gene expression, impacting apoptosis and stress responses. However, the lung shows resistance to metabolic and oxidative stress gene changes seen in other organs.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Genomics
- Physiology
Background:
- Diabetes mellitus significantly impacts gene expression across multiple organs, affecting metabolism, oxidative stress, and protein ubiquitination.
- Type 1 diabetes is known to impair lung function, but its effects on lung gene expression remain largely uncharacterized.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of type 1 diabetes on gene expression in the lung.
- To compare lung gene expression changes in diabetes with those observed in other affected organs.
Main Methods:
- Gene expression microarray analysis was performed on lung tissue from a rat model of streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus.
Main Results:
- Diabetic rats exhibited significantly elevated glucose levels compared to controls.
- Microarray analysis revealed 46 genes with significantly altered expression (19 increased, 27 decreased).
- Over-represented gene ontology groups included apoptosis, response to stress, protein kinase activity, ion transporter activity, and collagen, with distinct patterns of expression changes.
Conclusions:
- Type 1 diabetes affects specific areas of lung gene expression, notably apoptosis and stress responses.
- The lung demonstrates resistance to the metabolic and oxidative stress-related gene expression alterations observed in other diabetic tissues like the heart, skeletal muscle, and kidney.
