pH but not hypoxia affects neonatal gene expression: Relevance for housekeeping gene selection

Objective. To identify a candidate neonatal housekeeping gene and to determine the effects of pH and PaO2 on the stability of newborn gene expression in physiologically hypoxic and acidotic newborn blood. Methods. Quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) amplification was performed for four commonly used housekeeping genes (GAPDH, β-actin, cyclophilin, 28S rRNA) on extracted RNA. Blood gas analyses determined pH and PaO2 levels. Results and conclusions. β-Actin was the least variable and GAPDH the most variable housekeeping gene studied. pH negatively correlated with gene expression levels. PaO2 levels did not significantly affect gene expression. These results inform selection of housekeeping genes for neonatal mRNA research.