Alteration in Long Non-Coding RNA Expression after Traumatic Brain Injury in Rats

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes a primary insult and initiates a secondary injury cascade. The mechanisms underlying the secondary injury are multifactorial and may include the aberrant expression of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) post-TBI. Here, lncRNA microarray analysis was performed to profile the altered lncRNAs in the rat hippocampus after TBI. A total of 271 lncRNA probe sets and 1046 messenger RNA (mRNA) probe sets were differentially expressed after TBI. Gene ontology analysis showed that the main components of the most significantly changed categories were inflammation, DNA transcription, apoptosis, and necroptosis. Additionally, the pathway analysis and the pathway relation network revealed correlated pathways mainly involving inflammation, cell cycle, and apoptosis. A co-expression network of these aberrantly expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs was further constructed to predict the potential function of individual lncRNAs. Sub-co-expression networks were formed for the top three lncRNAs: NR_002704, ENSRNOT00000062543, and Zfas1. Thus, our study demonstrated differential expression of a series of lncRNAs in the rat hippocampus after TBI, which may be correlated with post-TBI physiological and pathological processes. The findings also may provide novel targets for further investigation of both the molecular mechanisms underlying TBI and potential therapeutic interventions.