Rat Life Cycle Kidney miRNA Expression Data

Kidney miRNA expression was examined in F344 rats at 2, 5, 6, 8, 15, 21, 78, and 104 weeks of age in both sexes using Agilent miRNA microarrays. 311 miRNAs were found to be expressed in at least one age and sex. Filtering criteria of =1.5 fold change and ANOVA (FDR <5%) revealed 174 differentially expressed miRNAs in the kidney; 173 and 34 miRNAs exhibiting age and sex effects, respectively. Principal component analysis revealed age effects predominated over sex effects, with 2 week miRNA expression being much different from other ages. No significant sexually dimorphic miRNA expression was observed from 5 to 8 weeks, while the most differential expression (13 miRNAs) was observed at 21 weeks. Potential target genes of these differentially expressed miRNAs were identified. Pathway analysis was used to investigate the possible roles of these target genes in age- and sex-specific differences.本研究采用安捷伦（Agilent）miRNA微阵列技术，对2、5、6、8、15、21、78及104周龄的雌雄F344大鼠肾脏组织的miRNA表达水平进行了检测。最终在至少一种年龄与性别分组中检测到311种miRNA的表达。通过以1.5倍变化差异作为筛选阈值，并结合方差分析（ANOVA，错误发现率FDR < 5%）进行筛选，共鉴定出174种肾脏差异表达miRNA，其中173种与年龄效应相关，34种与性别效应相关。主成分分析结果显示，年龄对miRNA表达的影响显著强于性别；2周龄大鼠的肾脏miRNA表达谱与其余周龄样本差异显著。在5至8周龄阶段，未观察到具有显著性别二态性的miRNA表达；而差异表达最为显著的阶段为21周龄，共涉及13种miRNA。本研究还鉴定了上述差异表达miRNA的潜在靶基因，并通过通路分析探究了这些靶基因在年龄与性别特异性差异中的潜在作用。