The Gene Expression Profiling Of The Adrenal Gland Under Acute Hyperglycemia/Hypoglycemia Or Chronic Hyperglycemia

As one of the most important regulatory systems maintaining the homeostasis of body, HPA axis plays an important role in many physiological functions. Being the vital member of HPA axis, the adrenal gland responses precisely and rapidly to the changing environment via prompt synthesis and secretion of hormones. The adrenal gland and blood glucose can interact with each other.To identify genes involving the regulation of blood glucose (especially those to decrease blood glucose) and genes related to the alteration in the morphology and function of the adrenal gland, to explore the molecular mechanisms of blood glucose regulation, we established the gene expression profiling of the monkey adrenal glands under acute hyperglycemia/hypoglycemia or chronic hyperglycemia with cDNA microarray. The expression of BBS4 gene under acute hyperglycemia/hypoglycemia was observed as well.The results indicated: 1) 521 genes up-regulated and 92 genes down-regulated under acute hyperglycemia, while 294 genes up-regulated and 464 down-regulated under acute hypoglycemia; 1208 genes expressed differentially between acute hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, including 94 genes expressed bi-directionally; 2) BBS4 gene, which mainly expressed in the adrenal medulla, was up-regulated by hyperglycemia and down-regulated by hypoglycemia; 3) 79 genes up-regulated and 43 down-regulated under chronic hypoglycemia, 725 genes expressed differentially between acute and chronic hyperglycemia, including 2 genes expressed bi-directionally.The results suggested: the differential gene expression in the adrenal gland under acute hyperglycemia/hypoglycemia was related to blood glucose; these genes might regulate blood glucose by influencing the metabolism and secretion of hormones, cytoskeleton constitution and signal transduction in the adrenal gland; BBS4 gene might participate in glucoregulationvia the activities of adrenal medulla; the differential genes expressed under acute vs chronic hyperglycemia might play a basic role of the structural and functional changes in the adrenal gland, lead to the process of chronic complications of diabetes or accommodate to the status of hyperglycemia.