Identification of four genes and biological characteristics associated with acute spinal cord injury in rats integrated bioinformatics analysis

Background Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious condition that can cause physical disability and sensory dysfunction. Cytokines play an extremely important role in the acute phase of SCI. Clarifying the cytokine expression profile is of great importance. Methods Cytokine array analysis was used to explore the changes in 67 different proteins at 0 hours, 2 hours, 1 day, 3 days, and 7 days after acute SCI in rats. The differentially expressed cytokines in the various periods were analyzed and compared. The biological processes related to the differentially expressed proteins were examined using Gene Ontology (GO) analysis. Results Immediately after SCI (0 hours), only ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) was slightly up-regulated, while 23 other proteins were down-regulated. At 2 hours after SCI, there were 3 upregulated and 21 downregulated proteins. At 1 day after SCI, there were 5 upregulated and 6 downregulated proteins. At 3 days after SCI, there were 6 upregulated and 4 downregulated proteins. At 7 days after SCI, there were 4 upregulated and 9 downregulated proteins. Erythropoietin (EPO) and Fms related tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt-3L) were downregulated at all time points. CD48 was decreased at 2 hours to 7 days after SCI. Monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) was the only protein that was upregulated at 2 hours to 7 days. The GO and pathway analyses revealed that the cytokine-related pathways, cell death, and proliferation might play a key role during secondary SCI. Conclusions This study identified 3 downregulated proteins during SCI, that being EPO, Flt-3L, and CD48. MCP-1 was the only upregulated protein, and its expression was upregulated till day 7 following SCI. These 4 identified genes may be potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of SCI.