Protective mechanism of fdft1 in steroid hormone synthesis pathway in SD rats with acute hypoxic injury

The acute hypoxic injury caused by the plain population entering the plateau in a short period of time has become the main cause of endangering the health of the people who rush into the plateau. The study aimed to identify the key genes which participate in resisting the acute hypoxic injury in SD Rats by transcriptomic profile analysis. 48 Sprague Dawley (SD) male rats were enrolled and randomly divided into four groups (0h, 24h, 48h, 72h) and housed in hypobaric hypoxia chamber with altitude 6000m for different periods of time to make them acute hypoxic injury. The transcriptomic profile of the lung tissue of the rats was analysed by RNA second-generation sequencing combined with bioinformatics analysis. The results of GO and KEGG function classification analysis revealed that the differential expression genes enriched in steroid hormone synthesis pathway especially in 48h group compared to F0 group. Further analysis revealed that Farnesyl Diphosphate Farnesyl Transferase 1 (fdft1) gene encoding a rate-limiting enzyme in steroid hormone synthesis pathway was significant differently expressed between the groups. The expression levels of fdft1 gene were further verified by RT-PCR and Western-blot methods. The results suggest that fdft1 gene plays an important role in responding to acute hypoxic injury by regulating steroid hormone biosynthesis.