Hepatic miRNA expression in experimental biliary atresia

Hepatic microRNA was measured by Exiqon array in the mouse RRV model of biliary atresia miRNA expression profiling. For the miRNA microarray experiment, RRV and saline injected animals were euthanized at 3, 8, and 14 days post infection (n=5 per treatment, per time point), and total RNA was purified from liver using the mirVana miRNA Isolation Kit (Ambion) according to the manufacturer's instructions. A pooled common control was assembled from an equal RNA mass from each of the samples, and samples and control were separately dye-labeled, and hybridized to a miRcury v11.0 miRNA microarray (Exiqon) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Microarray core facility. Sample hybridization intensities were scored relative to the common control, and raw intensity data were normalized and analyzed using the SAM add-in for Microsoft Excel. MiRNAs exhibiting a fold-change of greater than 10% up or down, at a false discovery rate of 5% were chosen for further study. Three time points (3, 8, 14 days) x 2 conditions x 6 replicates - 1 failed sample = 35 samples