Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To compare biological pathways involved in the differential expression of proteins and differential proteins in heart tissues from rats after their exposure to normal and herbal cigarette smoke. METHODS: Twenty-four Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups:1) normal cigarette smoke exposure and 2) herbal-containing cigarette smoke exposure (Jinsheng 4). The tandem mass tags (TMT) quantitative proteomics assay was used. After 3 months of smoke exposure,the differentially expressed proteins in the heart tissues from the two groups were screened. The gene ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Gene and Genomic Encyclopedia (KEGG) database were used to identify the differential proteins and bioinformatics analyses were conducted. RESULTS: A total of 43 proteins with different expressions of more than 1.2-fold were identified. The GO analyses of differentially expressed proteins indicate that these proteins were involved with molecular functions,cellular components and biological processes. KEGG enrichment analyses of differentially expressed proteins in the Jinsheng 4 group show that differentially expressed proteins were involved in six biological pathways. CONCLUSION: This study identifies differential expression of proteins, differential proteins and their biological pathways in heart tissues from rats after their exposure to herbal and common cigarette smoke. Our study provides clues for harm reduction among cigarette smokers.

Key words: smoking, herbal incense, cardiovascular system, differential protein, rat