Abstract
Although connexin production is mainly regulated at the protein level, altered connexin gene expression has been identified as the underlying mechanism of several pathologies. When studying the latter, appropriate methods to quantify connexin RNA levels are required. The present chapter describes a well-established reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction procedure optimized for analysis of hepatic connexins. The method includes RNA extraction and subsequent quantification, generation of complementary DNA, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and data analysis.
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Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the grants of Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT grant 131003), the University Hospital of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel-Belgium (Willy Gepts Fonds UZ-VUB), the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (FWO grants G009514N and G010214N), the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant 335476), the University of São Paulo-Brazil, and the Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo (FAPESP SPEC grant 2013/50420-6).
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Maes, M., Willebrords, J., Crespo Yanguas, S., Cogliati, B., Vinken, M. (2016). Analysis of Liver Connexin Expression Using Reverse Transcription Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction. In: Vinken, M., Johnstone, S. (eds) Gap Junction Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1437. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3664-9_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3664-9_1
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