<p> Many neurological diseases associated with cortical and hippocampal dysfunctions are sexually dimorphic in incidence and have been linked to defects in mRNA splicing. My thesis investigated the sex- and age-related changes in gene expression of six RNA processing genes within the cortex/hippocampus of male and female mice during early development. Gene expression was measured using RT-qPCR with mouse cortex/hippocampus samples collected on the day of birth and one week after birth. Immunoblotting was also used to measure the protein levels of one RNA processing gene to determine whether the expression paralleled mRNA expression. <i>Dhx8 mRNA</i> and <i>Sf3a2 </i> protein expression was found to be sexually dimorphic, while <i> Thoc3, Tut1,</i> and <i>Sf3a2</i> showed mRNA expression changes with age. Sexually dimorphic and age-related expression of these genes suggests that RNA processing may play an important role in brain sexual differentiation and early neural development; however the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:1593793 |
| Date | 22 August 2015 |
| Creators | Donovan, Courtney |
| Publisher | California State University, Long Beach |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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