Assembly and use of a broadly applicable neural cDNA microarray

cDNA microarrays provide an efficient method to analyze gene expression pat terns in thousands of genes in parallel. In some cases, large unfocused col lections of cDNAs have been used in hybridization studies, in others small logically defined collections of tissue specific arrays have been used. Her e we describe the bioinformatic selection of 1152 named human cDNAs specifi cally designed for neuroscience applications, arrayed on nylon membranes at high density. cDNAs were chosen which represent all the major cellular typ es of the brain including; neurons, astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendroc ytes. Gene families chosen include cell type specific markers, ion-channels , transporters, receptors, and cell adhesion molecules among many others. T hese arrays were used with region specific samples from human brain to dete rmine mRNA expression profiles for each region. Used with (33)-P labeled co mplex probes, this is a low cost, highly sensitive approach for the investi gator to focus on tissue specific genes of interest where samples of limiti ng amounts of RNA are used. This selected set of brain-relevant cDNAs shoul d be widely useful in the analysis of gene expression patterns from brain t issues as well as neural cell lines.