Proteomics of long-term neurodevelopmental disorders of rats exposed to early pain stimulation in the neonatal period

Abstract Objective To screen the feasibility and value of quantitative proteomic tandem mass spectrometry labeling (TMT) technology for early pain stimulation leading to neurodevelopmental disorders during puberty in neonatal rats. Methods The rats were randomly divided into two groups at postnatal day one (P1), and the skin was pricked for seven consecutive days in the experimental group; the control group was stroked simultaneously. A Morris water maze experiment was performed at P45 and P48. The rats were sacrificed at P50, and the proteins extracted from the hippocampal tissues were analyzed by TMT quantitative proteomics. The differentially expressed proteins were identified as biologically relevant proteins after pain intervention. Results The Morris water maze experiment suggested that the experimental group of rats had a significantly longer escape latency at P45 and P48 than the control group (P<0.05). At P49, Rats in the experimental group crossed the traversing platform less often than the control group within 60 s. Hippocampal tissue proteomics analysis showed than 33 proteins were upregulated, and 37 were downregulated. The differentially expressed proteins were enriched in different GO subsets, the most significant of which were sucrose metabolic process, response to stilbenoid maltose metabolic process, disaccharide metabolic process, circulating immunoglobulin complex, haptoglobin-hemoglobin complex, hemoglobin complex, replisome, purine-rich negative regulatory element binding, biliverdin reductase activity, alpha-1,4-glucosidase activity, and retinal dehydrogenase activity. KEGG enrichment analysis was most significant for starch and sucrose metabolism, galactose metabolism, antigen processing and presentation, and TGF-beta signaling. The core proteins were identified by constructing protein interaction networks. Four essential differentially expressed proteins were screened, including microtubule-associated serine-/threonine-protein kinase, carbonic anhydrase 3, F-box and leucine-rich repeat protein 4, and NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase chain 4L. Conclusions TMT-labeled proteomics identified energy metabolic processes, developmental processes, cellular processes, bioregulation, and signaling as the main targets of distant neurodevelopmental disorders caused by painful stimulation. Microtubule-associated serine/threonine-protein kinase, carbonic anhydrase 3, F-box and leucine-rich repeat protein 4, and NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase chain 4L may be involved in the cognitive impairment of adolescence caused by early pain stimulation in neonatal rats.