Supplementary Tables 1-5. Early life stress induces genome-wide sex-dependent miRNA expression and correlation across limbic brain areas in rats

Aims: The aim of this
study was to assess regional- and sex-dependent changes in miRNA expression
resulting from early-life stress (ELS).
Materials and
Methods: Small RNA sequencing was used to determine sex-dependent changes in
microRNAs after maternal separation (MS), a rodent model of ELS, across
prefrontal cortex (PFC), amygdala, and hippocampus.
Results: Results
showed that MS induced anhedonia and altered microRNA expression in a
sex-dependent manner, particularly in PFC and hippocampus. Gene ontology
revealed that these microRNAs target genes with brain-specific biological
functions.

Conclusions: Using a network approach to explore
microRNA signaling across the brain after ELS, regional differences were
highlighted as key to studying the brain’s stress response, which indicates
that sex is critical for understanding microRNA-mediated ELS-induced behavior.

研究目的：本研究旨在评估早期生命应激（early-life stress, ELS）引发的微小核糖核酸（microRNA, miRNA）表达的脑区依赖性及性别依赖性变化。
材料与方法：采用小RNA测序技术，针对早期生命应激的啮齿类动物模型——母婴分离（maternal separation, MS），检测其前额叶皮层（prefrontal cortex, PFC）、杏仁核及海马体中微小核糖核酸的性别依赖性表达变化。
研究结果：结果显示，母婴分离可诱导快感缺失，并以性别依赖的方式改变微小核糖核酸的表达，该效应尤其在前额叶皮层与海马体中较为显著。基因本体论（gene ontology, GO）分析表明，上述微小核糖核酸的靶基因具备脑特异性生物学功能。
研究结论：本研究通过网络分析方法探究早期生命应激后全脑的微小核糖核酸信号通路，结果凸显脑区差异是研究脑应激响应的关键因素，同时表明性别对于理解微小核糖核酸介导的早期生命应激诱导行为至关重要。