Transcription profiling of rat cecum mucosa upon dietary treatment with fructo oligosaccharides

To increase our knowledge of the effects of Fructo oligosaccharides (FOS) on the intestinal barrier function in rats, a controlled rat infection study was performed. Two groups of rats (n=12 per group) were adapted to a diet with or without FOS. mRNA was collected from the mucosa of the cecum and changes in gene expression were assessed using an agilent rat whole genome microarray (G4131A Agilent Technologies). Results indicate that dietary FOS influences immune response and wound healing mechanisms, which will most likely affect the intestinal barrier. Experiment Overall Design: In the present study, large-scale gene expression analysis was performed to reveal mechanistic details of FOS induced gene expression in vivo in the cecum mucosa. Wistar rats were adapted to diets with (n=12) or without FOS (n=12) for 14 days. RNA was isolated from cecum mucosal scrapings, two RNA samples from the control group were ecluded based on poor quality of RNA. Agilent rat whole genome microarray containing 44290 60-mer spots, were used to study FOS induced gene expression changes in order to better understand the FOS induced effects on the intestinal barrier of rats.