Besides epigenetic factors, the genetic make-up and differential gene expression not only determines aging and disease susceptibility
but also the functional activity of cells in an individual. Analysis of a variety of mammalian tissues revealed that the age-associated
differentially expressed genes mainly belong to inflammation, stress, and metabolism. Intracellular PPi is a by-product of
multiple biosynthetic reactions and its hydrolysis by cytosolic inorganic pyrophosphatase (iPPase) has long been considered
as an important homeostatic mechanism favoring biosynthesis. In this paper we report an age-associated increase (∼2-fold)
in the expression of rat liver cytosolic iPPase gene by differential display PCR and northern blot analysis. Expression profiling
of iPPase by RNA slot blot analysis in several other tissues revealed no significant change with aging. A comparative spectrophotometric
and in-gel analysis of iPPase activity in whole cell lysate (WCL) of liver, brain, skeletal muscle, heart, spleen and kidney
exhibited that liver of old rats (24 months ) has ∼2-fold more activity than the adult (4 months) ones and also its activity
is highest among the tissues. The specificity of iPPase activity in the spectrophotometric assay and in-gel analysis was confirmed
by specific iPPase inhibitors like CaCl
2 and NaF.
Keywords Differential display PCR - Gene expression - Aging - In-gel assay - Inorganic pyrophosphatase