Circular RNAs Expression in Elderly Patients with Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction. Circular RNAs Expression in Elderly Patients with Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is one of the severe complications inducing low life quality and high mortality after surgery, especially in elderly patients.Here we probed differentially expressed circRNAs using microarray assay in POCD patients, aiming to find potential key circRNAs related to the occurrence of POCD. Subsequently, ten dysregulated circRNAs were confirmed via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in 10 paired samples. Then, Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed to probe the vital functions of dysregulated genes. Overall design: To investigate the differentially expressed circRNAs in the serum of POCD patients and its potential role in the development of POCD, we performed circRNAs microarray to screen the differentially expressed circRNAs in serum samples from 3 patients of each of the POCD and non-POCD group. Subsequently, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis (qRT-PCR) was utilized to verify the microarray data with the serum samples from 10 patients of each group. Cytoscape software was used to construct the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network for circRNAs with different expression levels as well as the target genes. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed the biological functions of differentially expressed circRNAs target genes.