mRNA levels of gustducin, TrpM5, and NeuroD are reduced in the taste epithelium of MRL/lpr mice.

<p>qRT-PCR analysis was performed to quantify mRNA levels of gustducin (<b>A</b>), TrpM5 (<b>B</b>), NeuroD (<b>C</b>), SNAP25 (<b>D</b>), and PKD2L1 (<b>E</b>) in the circumvallate- and foliate-containing lingual epithelium prepared from MRL/+/+ and MRL/lpr mice. Gene expression (mean ± SEM) is shown in relative fold levels, with mRNA level of each analyzed gene in MRL/+/+ mice arbitrarily set to 1. β-Actin was used as the endogenous control gene for relative quantification. Epithelial tissues from 3–4 mice were pooled for each set of sample preparations. Three independent sets of samples were prepared. Each qPCR reaction was run either in duplicate or triplicate. Student's <i>t</i> tests were used for analysis. * <i>p</i><0.05; ** <i>p</i><0.01.