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Quantifying mRNA in postmortem human brain: influence of gender, age at death, postmortem interval, brain pH, agonal state and inter-lobe mRNA variance
Preece P, Cairns NJ.. Brain research. Molecular brain research, 2003-10-01
Topic: Plasma and spinal-fluid biomarkers
The quantification of mRNA in postmortem human brain is often made complicated by confounding factors. To assess the importance of potential confounders TaqMan real-time RT-PCR was used to measure seven mRNAs (beta-actin, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), cyclophilin, microtubule-associated protein (MAP) 2, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), amyloid precursor protein (APP) isoform 770) in cortical samples taken from 90 Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 81 control brains. Demographic data for the brain samples were assessed for interaction between factors and amounts of mRNA. Gender was found to play a role in that females had lower levels of mRNA relative to males; this was consistent in both the AD and control brains. Age at death had inconsistent but significant correlations to amounts of mRNA; male and female controls both had negative correlations, female AD a positive correlation and male AD no correlation. Positive correlations were found between brain pH and amount of mRNA in all genes except glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP); correlations were consistent across all groupings of pathology and gender. Mean brain pH was significantly lower in AD (6.4) than in control subjects (6.5, ANOVA, p<0.01), though there was no difference between male and females of either group. No correlation was found between brain pH and age at death. Postmortem interval was correlated with brain pH in Alzheimer's disease brains but not controls. Agonal state was generally a poor predictor of mRNA levels whilst inter-lobe variance of mRNA was found to be non-significant in control brains. Given that gender, age at death and brain pH all have significant effects upon mRNA levels it is recommended that these factors be taken into account when quantifying gene expression in postmortem human brain.
Key findings
- Age at death had inconsistent but significant correlations to amounts of mRNA; male and female controls both had negative correlations, female AD a positive correlation and male AD no correlation.
- Mean brain pH was significantly lower in AD (6.4) than in control subjects (6.5, ANOVA, p<0.01), though there was no difference between male and females of either group.
- Agonal state was generally a poor predictor of mRNA levels whilst inter-lobe variance of mRNA was found to be non-significant in control brains.
- Given that gender, age at death and brain pH all have significant effects upon mRNA levels it is recommended that these factors be taken into account when quantifying gene expression in postmortem human brain.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 36/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 36 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Brain research. Molecular brain research) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2003 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 14559355) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 21 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 36 out of 100. |
| Total | 36 / 100 | — |
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
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APA 7th
Preece, P., & Cairns, N. J. (2003). Quantifying mRNA in postmortem human brain: influence of gender, age at death, postmortem interval, brain pH, agonal state and inter-lobe mRNA variance. Brain research. Molecular brain research. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0169-328x(03)00337-1
Vancouver
Preece P, Cairns NJ. Quantifying mRNA in postmortem human brain: influence of gender, age at death, postmortem interval, brain pH, agonal state and inter-lobe mRNA variance. Brain research. Molecular brain research. 2003. doi:10.1016/s0169-328x(03)00337-1. PMID: 14559355.
BibTeX
@article{preece2003-14559355,
author = {Preece, P. and Cairns, N. J.},
title = {{Quantifying mRNA in postmortem human brain: influence of gender, age at death, postmortem interval, brain pH, agonal state and inter-lobe mRNA variance}},
journal = {Brain research. Molecular brain research},
year = {2003},
doi = {10.1016/s0169-328x(03)00337-1},
pmid = {14559355},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/s0169-328x(03)00337-1}
}
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