This paper describes a microarray study including data quality control, data analysis and the analysis of the mechanism of toxicity (MOT) induced by 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) in a rat adrenal pheochromocytoma cell line (PC12 cells) using bioinformatics tools. MPP+ depletes dopamine content and elicits cell death in PC12 cells. However, the mechanism of MPP+-induced neurotoxicity is still unclear.