Genome wide responses of murine lungs to dietary α-tocopherol

α-tocopherol (α-T) may affect biological processes by modulating mRNA concentrations. This study screened the responses of ∼15,000 lung mRNAs to dietary α-T in mice. The lung was chosen as the target organ because it is subjected to cyclical variations in oxidant and inflammatory stressors and α-T has been implicated in their modulations. The analysis identified ∼400 mRNAs sensitive to α-T status of lungs determined by dietary α-T. The female lung transcriptome appears to be more sensitive to the α-T status than that of the male lungs. Here, we focus on the induction of 13 cytoskeleton genes by dietary α-T because they were similarly induced in the male and the female lungs. Their inductions were confirmed by quantitative-real-time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Immunohistochemical analyses of three of the encoded proteins suggest that they are expressed in lung vasculature and alveolar regions. The data suggest that the lung αT status may modulate cytoarchitecture of lungs.