Open-Field Blast Injury Disrupts Corneal Gene Expression Linked to Ion Transport, Sensory Perception, and Neural Signaling

This study aimed to investigate the transcriptomic alterations in the cornea following open-field blast injury (OFBI) for the first time via RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) with the objective of identifying key molecular signatures and pathways underlying OFBI-induced corneal pathology. A total of 64 C57BL/6J mice (32 OFBI-exposed, 32 naïve controls) were used in the study. OFBI was induced using 350 g of Composition C-4 explosive at a standoff distance of 3 m. RNA was extracted from pooled corneas, and RNA-Seq libraries were prepared and sequenced on an Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform.