Fig. 4
Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), hierarchical clustering, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the dorsal horn of chronic constriction injury (CCI) rats. a Histogram of KEGG pathway enrichment distribution of DEGs. The bar plot shows the top ten enrichment score (−log10(p value)) value of the significant enrichment pathway. b Heat map of DEGs showing hierarchical clustering of changed DEGs of rats in CCI group compared with control group. In clustering analysis, upregulated and downregulated genes are colored in red and green, respectively. c STRING analysis for biological interactions within DEGs of RNA-seq datasets, involved in immune and inflammatory function. The line color indicates the type of interaction evidence, and line thickness indicates the strength of data support. d Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis for differences in expression levels of DEGs in the dorsal horn between CCI models and controls. Results were calculated by normalizing to β-actin in the same sample with the ΔCt method. Changes in relative levels of gene mRNAs expressed as folds of controls. All values were mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05 (n = 3)