Expression of low density lipoprotein receptor, apolipoprotein AI, AII and AIV in various rat organs utilizing an efficient and rapid method for RNA isolation.

Intact RNA from various rat organs was isolated by an efficient and rapid method. This method of RNA isolation is a modification of an earlier method that uses guanidinium isothiocynate followed by extraction in the presence of sarcosyl, acetate and phenol. The RNA obtained by the method reported here was comparable with the RNA prepared by the CsCl2 ultracentrifugation method and the commercially available kit based on published methods. The quality of RNA was found suitable for Northern blotting analysis, RNase protection assays and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Since reverse transcriptase is active in the buffer used for Taq DNA polymerase, only one reaction needs to be set up. We also found that the use of aurintricarboxylic acid in the RNA preparation prevents the degradation of RNA during storage. Expression of low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor, apolipoprotein (apo) AI, AII and AIV mRNAs were quantified in various rat organs. Our results indicated that rat LDL receptor mRNA is expressed in several organs whereas apoAI and AIV mRNAs were expressed mainly in the liver and intestine. However, apo AII mRNA is expressed mainly in the liver. Unlike mice and some species of monkeys, in the rat apoAI mRNA is expressed at 5-6 times higher levels in the intestine compared to liver. Apo AIV mRNA abundance was also found to be several fold higher in intestine compared to hepatic tissues. We present here, for the first time, data on the absolute amounts of LDL receptor, apoAI, AII and AIV mRNA in various rat organs which were quantified by a novel RNase protection/solution hybridization assay.