Blood miRNA as biomarkers of epilepsy (HIGH vs. LOW)

Epilepsy frequently develops as a result of brain insult, for example brain injury or stroke. Currently there are no tools allowing us to predict which trauma patients will eventually develop epilepsy. There is evidence that microRNAs levels are altered in the blood, making them attractive candidates for peripheral biomarkers of epilepsy. We analyzed miRNA levels in blood samples using Affymetrix microarrays 4.1 and performed comparative analysis of samples. We performed 3 comparisons: i) control animals vs. Status epilepticus animals, ii) animals which developed first spontaneous seizure around 7 days post stimulation (EARLY), or later after 21days post stimulation (LATE), iii) animals that had high or low number of seizures as determined by seizures number (EARLY vs. LATE). We draw the blood from rats after electrical stimulation of amygdala, which induces status epilepticus, at 3 timepoints: 2 days, 9 days and 8 months. Laterr RNA was isolated from all the samples at the same time and microarray 4.1 were used in agreement with the producer's protocol, to test levels of each miRNA.