Objective  The gene expression differences of heat stroke-induced nerve injury in rats based on the GEO database were analyzed to explore the role of the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA co-expression regulatory network involved in nerve injury caused by heat stroke.

  Methods  The GEO database was used to retrieve the heat-stroke-related dataset GSE64778 to obtain differentially expressed genes(DEGs), and the GeneCards and CTD databases were combined to retrieve heat-stroke-related target genes, and the candidate target genes were obtained by intersection screening. The R language was used to enrich GO and KEGG for heat-stroke-related candidate target genes. Furthermore, STRING database was used to construct the interaction network map of target genes and correlation analysis of key genes to obtain core genes. Prediction of upstream miRNAs of candidate target genes by the RNAInter, miRWalk, and RAID2 databases, and then prediction of miRNAs that bind to lncRNA targets by the miRDB database to screen and construct a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA co-expression regulatory network.

  Results  SRA data screening of the GSE64778 dataset yielded 1 178 DEGs, of which 322 were up-regulated and 856 were down-regulated. 2 914 genes were screened from the GeneCards database, and 2 377 genes were screened from the CTD database. The top 300 differentially expressed genes in the GSE64778 dataset were intersected with the GeneCards and CTD database search results, and 25 candidate DEGs were finally screened. GO functional annotation results indicated that the target genes were mainly involved in apoptosis, stress response, and negative regulation of cellular processes and functioned in processes such as protein dimerization and protein binding. KEGG enrichment analysis suggested that the candidate target genes were mainly enriched in the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and Hsp90aa1 was the pivotal gene with the highest degree value and was enriched in the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway by PPI network analysis. Prediction of upstream miRNAs of the Hsp90aa1 gene and target miRNAs of candidate lncRNAs targeted 3 lncRNAs, 8 miRNAs, and 1 mRNA. DIANA TOOLS database pathway enrichment and correlation analysis revealed targeted binding sites between LOC102547734 and miR-206-3p, miR-206-3p and Hsp90aa1.

  Conclusions  Based on bioinformatics analysis, we found that heat-shot-induced nerve injury is associated with apoptosis, stress response, and negative regulation of cellular processes. The LOC102547734-miR-206-3p-Hsp90aa1 regulatory network may inhibit the occurrence of heat-shot nerve injury.