Fig. 6

AFB1 and coccidia exposure induced uterine damage through the relaxin signaling pathway. a Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using criteria of |log2FC| ≥ 1 and p-value < 0.05, and are represented in volcano plots. b Overlapped DEGs between groups (VIP > 1, p-value < 0.05). c A trend heatmap illustrates the expression status and trend of DEGs. The mfuzz algorithm was utilized to classify 84 DEGs into different clusters, and then the heat map+each cluster line map was drawn to visually display the trend. d The Sankey bubble map displays 12 significantly different pathways and their enriched DEGs. The left side is the Sankey diagram, indicating the genes within each pathway. The right side features the bubble diagram. The bubble size represents the number of genes that the pathway belongs to, and the bubble color represents the p-value. e Expression levels of COL11A1, COL4A4, FOSB, and GNG2 genes (n = 4). f The activation of the PI3K/AKT/eNOS pathway by relaxin signaling pathway. Relaxin signal binds to the receptor relaxin/insulin-like family peptide receptor 1 (RXFP1), which first interacts with Gαs to activate adenylate cyclase (AC), resulting in increased cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) production, while also negatively regulating through interaction with GαoB. Subsequently, RXFP1 associates with Gαi3 to activate the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, leading to their phosphorylation and subsequent activation of eNOS. g Gene expression levels of PI3K, AKT and eNOS (n = 3). Statistical significance is indicated by ^*p < 0.05, ^**p< 0.01, and ^***p < 0.001 (AFB1, E.o, and AFB1+E.o vs Con); or ^#p< 0.05, ^##p < 0.01, and ^###p < 0.001 (AFB1+E.o vs AFB1 and E.o)