Hepatic gene expression profiling of Eisai hyperbilirubinemic rats

Eisai hyperbilirubinemic rats (EHBR) are a mutant strain of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats known for their naturally occurring hyperbilirubinemia, which was later found to result from a deficiency of an efflux transporter, multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) 2. This strain was developed by the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai Co., Ltd. and is widely used as an animal model for studying hyperbilirubinemia and the transport mechanisms of various compounds. In our study, the effects of decreased MRP2 expression on the gene expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters were investigated using the EHBR liver. In addition, activation of transcription factors and nuclear receptors was evaluated based on changes in target gene expression from RNA-seq data. Overall design: RNA-seq profiling of the liver of male 5-week-old EHBR and SD rats