miRNA profiles of tubular cells (Rodent A and Rodent B)

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small RNAs of 18–23 nucleotides that regulate gene expression. Recently, plasma miRNAs have been investigated as biomarkers for various diseases. In the present study, we assessed whether the miRNA expression profiles of tubular tissues could discriminate proximal tubule injury and diagnose acute kidney injury (AKI) and the renal tubular dysfunction without morphological changes. rat RNA from various tissues (kidney, pancreas, salivary gland, prostate, lacrimal gland, lung, bile duct, liver, heart, skeletal muscle, spleen, small intestine, bronchial gland, mammary gland, intestinal villus, proximal tubule and glomerulus) were used. The bronchial gland, mammary gland, intestinal villus, proximal tubule and glomerulus were isolated from tissue sections using laser microdissetion (LMD). Expression profiling of rodent miRNAs was performed using the ABI TaqMan Rodent MicroRNA Array kit (Card A & B; Applied Biosystems, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. LMD samples were pre-amplified 12 cycles. The ABI Prism 7900 HT Sequence Detection System (Applied Biosystems) was used for amplification and detection. Ct values were obtained from the amplification plot using the SDS software (Applied Biosystems).