Unraveling the rat blood genome-wide transcriptome after oral administration of Lavender oil by a two-color dye-swap DNA microarray approach

Lavender oil (LO) is commonly used oil in aromatherapy, with well-defined volatile components linalool and linalyl acetate, in non-traditional medicine. To understand and demonstrate the potential positive effects of LO on the body, we have established an animal model for investigating the orally administered LO effects genome-wide in the rat tissues. In this data submission, we investigate the effect of LO ingestion in the blood. These results are the first such inventory of genes that are affected by lavender essential oil (LO) in the blood of an animal model, forming the basis for further functional analysis and investigation. Briefly, rats were administered LO at 5 mg/kg (usual therapeutic dose in humans) followed by screening of differentially expressed genes in the tissues, using a 4×44-K whole-genome rat chip (Agilent microarray platform; Agilent Technologies, Palo Alto, CA, USA) in conjunction with a dye-swap approach.