Intratracheal instillation of quaternary ammonium compounds in rats

There is a lack of comprehensive toxicity studies of QACs associated with pulmonary toxicity. Therefore, we aimed to elucidate the potential pulmonary toxic effects of QACs based on toxicogenomic approach. We conducted transcriptome analysis using RNA sequencing to identify alterations in gene expression associated with QACs exposure. Overall design: The SD rats were administered to a single intratracheal instillation (ITI) of each QACs at varying concentrations. Within this range of concentrations, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) analysis showed increases in total cell count, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and total protein levels in response to QACs exposure. Based on these results, transcriptome analysis using quantSeq 3` mRNA sequencing was conducted on lung tissues from SD rats intratracheally administered with four QACs with a 2.0-fold change cutoff and p < 0.05 (n=4/group) to assess the toxicogenomic responses.