Global gene expression profiling of blast lung injury of goats exposed to shock wave

Abstract Purpose Blast lung injury (BLI) is the most common damage resulted from explosion-derived shock wave in military, terrorism and industrial accidents. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying BLI induced by shock waves are still unclear. Methods In the study, a goat BLI model was established by a fuel air explosive power. The key genes involved in were identified. The goats of the experimental group were fixed on the edge of the explosion cloud, while the goats of control group were three km far away from the explosive environment. After successful modeling for 24 h, all the goats were sacrificed and the lung tissue were harvested for histopathological observation and RNA sequencing. Gene ontology (GO) and keto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) analysis were performed to identify the main enriched biological functions of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to verify the consistency of gene expression. Results Of the sampled goat lungs, 895 genes were identified to be significantly differentially expressed, and they were involved in 52 significantly enriched GO categories. KEGG analysis revealed that DEGs were highly enriched in 26 pathways, such as cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, antifolate resistance, arachidonic acid metabolism, amoebiasis and bile secretion, JAK-STAT, and IL-17 signaling pathway. Furthermore, 15 key DEGs involved in the biological processes of BLI were confirmed by qRT-PCR, and the results were consistent with RNA sequencing. Conclusion Gene expression profiling provide a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of BLI, which will help to set strategy for treating lung injury and preventing secondary lung injury induced by shock wave.