Gene Expression Pattern Analysis of PAHs and VOCs in Rat Blood Using HazChem Rat Array

Abstract

The HazChem rat array includes 233 VOCs- and PAHs-specific genes in rat blood samples, 445 VOCs- or PAHs- or POPs-differentially-expressed genes in rat in vivo samples and 847 liver-toxicity-related genes in previous studies. In previous experiments, the expression levels of these genes were altered in whole genome microarray experiments using VOC-treated and PAH-treated rat blood cells. In this study, we employed the rat HazChem array to evaluate the gene expression patterns of the chemical groups. The chemical groups utilized in this study were PAHs and VOCs. We employed benzo[a]anthracene and benzo[a]pyrene as examples of PAHs, and dichloromethane, ethylbenzene, and trichloroethylene as examples of VOCs. Thus, a total of 5 chemicals were ultimately evaluated. We selected 239 genes that evidenced significant alterations in expression with 5 environmental toxicants. We also verified that the 5 chemicals utilized herein were divided into 2 chemical groups on the basis of the 62 genes. We also selected 117 commonly expressed genes associated with all types of chemicals. In the gene ontological data, these genes were associated with responses to stress, macromolecular biosynthesis, catabolism, cell adhesion, response to endogenous stimulus, etc. Thus, the results of this study show that the HazChem rat array can be used to predict the toxicity of chemical species, as well as the effects of environmental toxicants.