Figure 1

Assessment of total RNA degradation. Electropherograms from high quality total RNA present three distinct peaks (28S, 18 S and 5S). The presences of multiple peaks or smears indicate RNA degradation. Electropherograms of total RNA extracted from snap-frozen liver (A) or duodenal (B) samples or from total RNA extracted from fresh liver(C) or fresh duodenum (D) immediately (T0) or after incubation in ice for 30 min (T30), 60 min (T60), 120 min (T120) and 240 min (T240). Total RNA extracted from snap-frozen tissues and fresh duodenum is affected by degradation as early as 30 min on ice. RNA extracted from fresh livers is only slightly affected by degradation even after 4 hours in ice. (M, Marker; 1, T0; 2, T30; 3, T60; 4, T120 and 5, T240).