Transcriptomic Analysis of the Heart Tissue in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats Exposed to Acute Hypobaric Hypoxia

Associations with Energy Metabolism

Abstract

We evaluated the effect of acute hypobaric hypoxia (AHH) on the heart of early-stage spontaneously hypertensive male rats (SHRs). The rats were classified into a control (ground level; ~400 m altitude) group and an SHR-AHH experimental group placed in an animal hypobaric chamber at a simulated altitude of 5500 m for 24 hours (24h).

RNA-Seq analysis of the hearts showed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were primarily associated with cellular processes, binding, and cell parts. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that the DEGs were linked to the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, and metabolic pathways. Protein-protein interaction network analysis revealed that 165 DEGs were implicated in energy metabolism. Subsequently, we performed validation experiments to show that 8 DEGs were closely associated with energy metabolism. Among these genes, Ccna2, Cdc20, Prc1, Kif11, Kif20a, Ube2c, and Melk exhibited downregulated expression, while Cenpa exhibited upregulated expression.

Collectively, these results indicated that energy metabolism-associated gene expression in the heart was altered in early-stage hypertension upon AHH exposure.