Profiling miRNA transcriptomic changes using Affymetrix miRNA4.0 in 6 regions of postmortem brains of subjects with alcohol use disorder

Chronic alcohol consumption may alter miRNA transcriptome profiles in reward-related brain regions. Given that miRNAs can regulate the expression of their target coding genes (or mRNAs) at the post-transcriptional level, alcohol-induced miRNA expression change may influence the expression of their targets mRNAs that are involved in alcohol use disorder (AUD)-related pathways, leading to increased risk of AUD. We used the Affymetrix GeneChip™ miRNA 4.0 Array to map miRNA transcriptome profiles in six reward-related regions of postmortem brains of AUD and control subjects and identified differentially expressed miRNAs. Total RNAs were extracted from tissue samples dissected from six regions (amygdala, caudate nucleus, cerebellum, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and putamen) of postmortem brains of 8 male patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and 8 male control subjects. Both AUD patients and control subjects were assessed with DSM-IV. The Affymetrix miRNA4.0 microarray data was processed using the Expression Console (EC) software.