Altered expression of differential gene and lncRNA in the lower thoracic spinal cord on different time courses of experimental obstructive jaundice model accompanied with altered peripheral nociception in rats

// Qian Wang 1, * , Zhi-Xiao Li 1, * , Bao-Wen Liu 1, * , Zhi-Gang He 1 , Cheng Liu 1 , Min Chen 2 , San-Guang Liu 3 , Wei-Zhong Wu 4 and Hong-Bing Xiang 1 1 Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P.R. China 2 Department of Anesthesiology, Hubei Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Wuhan, P.R. China 3 Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Second Hospital, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, P.R. China 4 Department of General Surgery, The Second Hospital, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, P.R. China * These authors have contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors Correspondence to: Wei-Zhong Wu, email: wwzdhr@sohu.com Keywords: obstructive jaundice; nociceptive response; high-throughput sequencing; lncRNA; spinal cord Received: August 29, 2017      Accepted: October 28, 2017      Published: November 20, 2017 ABSTRACT The spinal origin of jaundice-induced altered peripheral nociceptive response poorly understood. In the current study, we aimed to first validate rats with bile duct ligation (BDL) as a jaundice model accompanied by altered peripheral nociceptive response, and then to analyze differential gene and lncRNA expression patterns in the lower thoracic spinal cord on different time courses after BDL operation by using high-throughput RNA sequencing. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) identified using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis, followed by clustering analysis, Gene Ontology analysis and pathway analysis. As a result, a total of 2033 lncRNAs were differentially expressed 28d after BDL, in which 1545 probe sets were up-regulated and 488 probe sets were down-regulated, whereas a total of 2800 mRNAs were differentially expressed, in which 1548 probe sets were up-regulated and 1252 probe sets were down-regulated. The RNAseq data of select mRNAs and lncRNAs was validated by RT-qPCR. 28d after BDL, the expressions of lncRNA NONRATT002335 and NONRATT018085 were significantly up-regulated whereas the expression of lncRNA NONRATT025415, NONRATT025388 and NONRATT025409 was significantly down-regulated. 14d after BDL, the expressions of lncRNA NONRATT002335 and NONRATT018085 were significantly up-regulated; the expression of lncRNA NONRATT025415, NONRATT025388 and NONRATT025409 was significantly down-regulated. In conclusion, the present study showed that jaundice accompanied with decreased peripheral nociception involved in the changes of gene and lncRNA expression profiles in spinal cord. These findings extend current understanding of spinal mechanism for obstructive jaundice accompanied by decreased peripheral nociception.