Rattus norvegicus Transcriptome or Gene expression

Transcriptomic sequencing data from rat hippocampal samples in three experimental groups (control group, VPA-exposed group, and VPA-exposed with melatonin-treated group). To delineate hippocampal molecular dynamics in rat models, mRNA sequencing for hippocampal tissues was performed by Sangon Biotech CO, Ltd (Shanghai, China). Reference-guided transcriptomic profiling was conducted using rigorous quality controls and computational pipelines. Illumina HiSeq-derived reads underwent Trimmomatic-based quality control and HISAT2 alignment, followed by genomic feature distribution analysis (Qualimap/BEDTools). Functional annotation of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) utilized Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and Clusters of Orthologous Groups (KOG) databases. Enrichment analyses via clusterProfiler identified overrepresented pathways (P < 0.05). Protein-protein interaction networks were constructed using STRING and visualized via Cytoscape. Technical reproducibility was validated through high inter-replicate correlations (Pearson's r > 0.99). Potential batch effects were mitigated via variance-stabilizing transformations. This integrative approach provides a high-resolution atlas of transcriptional regulation in the rodent hippocampus, balancing statistical rigor with biological interpretability.