Expression data of the mouse heart of a nose-only HCN inhalation model and a subcutaneous KCN injection model

Smoke inhalation from a structure fire is a common route of cyanide poisoning in the U.S. Cyanide inhibits cellular respiration, often leading to death. Its rapid distribution throughout the body can result in injuries to multiple organs, and cyanide victims were reported to experience myocardial infarction and other cardiac complications. We performed oligonucleotide microarrays to establish cardiac transcriptomes of an animal model of nose-only inhalation exposure to hydrogen cyanide (HCN), which is relevant to smoke inhalation. We also profiled cardiac transcriptomes after subcutaneous injection of potassium cyanide (KCN). Although the KCN injection model has been often used to evaluate medical countermeasures, this study demonstrated that cardiac transcriptomes are largely different from that of the HCN inhalation model at multiple time points within 24 hours after exposure. Non-anesthetized CD-1 adult male mice (20-35 g) were subjected to a subcutaneous injection of KCN (8.0 mg/kg) or a nose-only HCN inhalation, and volume-matched saline and air were used as control, respectively. The heart samples were harvested at several time points after exposure and total RNA was isolated for hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.