The expression analysis of nanog in the developing rat myocardial tissues.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the expression dynamic of nanog gene in the development of rat myocardial tissues. METHODS SD rats were studied at 5 time points before and after birth. The techniques of immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, western blotting and RT-PCR were used to investigate the expression of nanog gene in the rat myocardial tissues at different embryonic (E) and postnatal (P) stages, and image analysis system was used for the quantitative analysis. RESULTS The immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and western blotting analyses have shown that expression of nanog protein was highest in the rat myocardial tissues at E18, then it gradually declined at postnatal stages (P<0.05), and became nearly undetectable in most myocardial tissues at P30 with very few remaining nanog-positive cells. RT-PCR result indicated that the expression of nanog gene was strong at E18, but gradually decreased from E18 to P30. CONCLUSION The mRNA transcription and protein translation of nanog gene in the rat heart gradually decreased with every consecutive growth stage. This indicates that nanog gene has potential regulatory functions in the differentiation of myocardial cells during rat development.