RNA sequencing detected 11,727 genes expressed in the vHip, among which 416 (3.5%) were differentially expressed at FDR < 0.05 (Table 1; genes listed in Supplemental Table 1, Table 2 lists genes with at least 2-fold difference plus selected genes discussed here). Many of the differentially expressed genes were expressed at low levels (i.e., have small RPKMs), but the distribution of expression levels for differentially expressed genes did not differ from that of all detected genes (Supplemental Figure 1). Fold changes were small: only 18% of the differentially expressed genes changed by > 1.5 fold (absolute values) (Figure 1). There are genes with large fold changes that are not found in enriched pathways, including Atf3, Cyr61, Apold1, Shank1, Btg2, Nts and Npas4 (Table 2). In the vHip, approximately 4/5 of the differentially expressed genes were expressed at lower levels in the binge drinking animals. These included genes enriched in neurons (70%), astrocytes (77%) and oligodendrocytes (86%); the additional bias in oligodendrocytes is suggestive but not significant (p=0.09).
