Time- and Dose-Resolved Proteome of PM2.5-Exposure-Induced Lung Injury and Repair in Rats

In recent years, airborne fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) is drawing more public attention due to its various physicochemical features and causing pathological harm, as proven by epidemiological and clinical studies. However, the mechanism of PM_2.5-exposure-induced lung injury has not been fully characterized. Here, we established a PM_2.5-induced rat injury model for both short-term and long-term exposures at different concentrations. We employed the Fast-seq technique to profile 6316 proteins and the catTFRE approach to profile 387 transcription factors (TFs) in the lung tissue. In short-term exposure, we elucidated gradually upregulated proteins enriched in response to oxidative stress, phagosome, and the extracellular matrix (ECM)-receptor interaction pathway. Long-term exposure mainly showed the immune response pathway to be consisting of increased lymphocytes and cytokines. Intriguingly, we found that immune-related proteins were recoverable during short-term exposure. During the process of PM_2.5 exposure, upregulated proteins presented dose-dependence in the lung, including stress response at low dose, minor immune response at middle dose, and severe inflammatory response at high dose. This data set provides a rich resource to facilitate the understanding of PM_2.5-induced lung damage and repair mechanism.