Expression profiles of the genes associated with the myocyte differentiation during rat liver regeneration.

Myocytes are important parts of tissues and organs. To study the effects of myocyte differentiation-related genes on rat liver regeneration (LR) at transcriptional level, we obtained these genes through collecting the database data and retrieving the pertinent thesis, and detected the expression profiles of above-mentioned genes during LR using the Rat Genome 230 2.0 array. LR-associated genes were identified by comparing the discrepancy in gene expression changes between partial hepatectomy (PH) group and sham-operation (SO) group, by which 52 LR-associated genes were confirmed. They were classified into 5 groups based on time relevance, including 0.5-1h; 2-12h; 16h, 30h, 42h, 96h; 18-24h, 36h, 48-60h; 66-72h,120-168h, in which the numbers of up-regulation and down-regulation genes were 8 and 10, 24 and 8, 21 and 24, 53 and 64, 28 and 36, respectively. Among these genes, the total 143 times of up-regulation and 136 times of down-regulation, as well as their 8 expression patterns displayed diversity and complexity of the genes associated with the myocyte differentiation. It was inferred that the differentiation of myoblasts and smooth muscle cells were enhanced during LR and the genes associated with the differentiation of skeletal muscle cells and cardiac muscle cells participated in the cellular physiological and biochemical activities of LR.