Comparison of human cardiac gene expression profiles in paired samples of right atrium and left ventricle collected in vivo

Studies of expressed genes in human heart provide insight into both physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms. This is of importance for extended understanding of cardiac function as well as development of new therapeutic drugs. Heart tissue for gene expression studies is generally hard to obtain, particularly from the ventricles. Since different parts of the heart have different functions, expression profiles should likely differ between these parts. The aim of the study was therefore to compare the global gene expression in cardiac tissue from the more accessible auricula of the right atrium to expression in tissue from the left ventricle. Tissue samples were collected from five men undergoing aortic valve replacement or coronary artery bypass grafting. Global gene expression analysis identified 542 genes as differentially expressed between the samples extracted from these two locations, corresponding to similar to 2% of the genes covered by the microarray; 416 genes were identified as abundantly expressed in right atrium, and 126 genes were abundantly expressed in left ventricle. Further analysis of the differentially expressed genes according to available annotations, information from curated pathways and known protein interactions, showed that genes with higher expression in the ventricle were mainly associated with contractile work of the heart. Transcription in biopsies from the auricula of the right atrium on the other hand indicated a wider area of functions, including immunity and defense. In conclusion, our results suggest that biopsies from the auricula of the right atrium may be suitable for various genetic studies, but not studies directly related to muscle work.