In previous studies, we have investigated the relationships between environmental chemicals and health risk based on omics analysis and identified significant
biomarkers. Our current findings indicate that
hexanal may be an important toxicant of the pulmonary system in epigenetic insights.
MicroRNA (
miRNA) is an important
indicator of biomedical risk assessment and target identification.
Hexanal is highly detectable in the exhaled breath of patients with
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (
COPD) and chronic inflammatory
lung disease. In this study, we aimed to identify
hexanal-characterized
miRNA-
mRNA correlations involved in lung toxicity. Microarray analysis identified 56
miRNAs that commonly changed their expression more than 1.3-fold in three doses (600, 1000, and 1500 ppm) within
hexanal-exposed Fischer 344 rats by inhalation, and 226 genes were predicted to be target genes of
miRNAs through TargetScan analysis. By integrating analyses of
miRNA and
mRNA expression profiles, we identified one anti-correlated target gene (Chga;
chromogranin A;
parathyroid secretory protein 1). Comparative toxicogenomics database (CTD) analysis of this gene showed that Chga is involved with several disease categories such as
cancer,
respiratory tract disease,
nervous system disease, and
cardiovascular disease. Further research is necessary to elucidate the mechanisms of
hexanal-responsive toxicologic pathways at the molecular level. This study concludes that our integrated approach to
miRNA and
mRNA enables us to identify molecular events in disease development induced by
hexanal in an in vivo rat model. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 31: 1909-1921, 2016.