Effect of morroniside on the transcriptome profiles of rat in injured spinal cords

•The results of RNA-seq confirmed the anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects of morroniside on injured SC tissues.•Some key signal pathways and molecules may be involved in the SC protection of morroniside.•The data provided the basis for further studying the mechanism of the protective effects of morroniside on SCI. We have previously reported that morroniside promoted motor activity after spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats. However, the mechanism by which morroniside induces recovery of injured spinal cord (SC) remains unknown. In the current study, RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was employed to evaluate changes of gene expressions at the transcriptional level of the injured spinal cords in morroniside-administrated rats. Principal component analysis, analysis of enriched Gene Ontology (GO), enrichment analyses Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway, and other bioinformatics analyses were executed to distinguish differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The results of RNA-seq confirmed the anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects of morroniside on injured SC tissues, and provided the basis for additional research of the mechanisms involving the protective effects of morroniside on SCI.