Analysis of mRNA Expression in Striatal Tissue by Differential Display Polymerase Chain Reaction

Differential display polymerase chain reaction (DDPCR) is a technique that allows comparisons between the expressed mRNA population in two or more tissues, or in the same tissue under two or more different conditions. For example, it has been used to discover striatal genes whose expression is altered following a drug injection (1 ,2 ). The essential idea behind DDPCR is to generate an RNA “fingerprint,” a pattern of bands corresponding to the expressed mRNA population. By performing parallel sets of reactions for each experimental condition and displaying the resulting fingerprints side by side, bands that differ between conditions can be noted and the corresponding mRNA identified.