1. Academic Validation
  2. Effects of MRP8, LPS, and lenalidomide on the expressions of TNF-α , brain-enriched, and inflammation-related microRNAs in the primary astrocyte culture

Effects of MRP8, LPS, and lenalidomide on the expressions of TNF-α , brain-enriched, and inflammation-related microRNAs in the primary astrocyte culture

  • ScientificWorldJournal. 2013 Sep 21;2013:208309. doi: 10.1155/2013/208309.
Ahmed Omran 1 Muhammad Usman Ashhab Na Gan Huimin Kong Jing Peng Fei Yin
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Department of Pediatrics, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China ; Departments of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt.
Abstract

Astrocytes are now recognized as a heterogeneous class of cells with many important and diverse functions in healthy and diseased central nervous system (CNS). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNAs which may have key roles in astrocytes activation in response to various stimuli. We performed quantitative Real-Time PCR (qPCR) to detect changes in the expressions of brain-enriched miRNAs (124, 134, 9, 132, and 138), inflammation-related miRNAs (146a, 21, 181a, 221, and 222), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF- α ) in the rat primary astrocyte cultures after stimulation with myeloid-related protein 8 (MRP8) and lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Further, we inhibited the expression of TNF- α in the astrocytes by using TNF- α inhibitor (lenalidomide) and tested for the first time the effect of this inhibition on the expressions of the same tested miRNAs. Stimulation of the astrocytes with MRP8 or LPS leads to significant upregulation of miRNAs (124, 134, 9, 132, 146a, 21, 181a, 221, and 222), while miRNA-138 was downregulated. TNF- α inhibition with lenalidomide leads to opposite expressions of the tested miRNAs. These miRNAs may play an important role in activation of the astrocytes and may be a novel target for cell-specific therapeutic interventions in multiple CNS diseases.

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