MicroRNAs Involved in Aging of the Lateral Wall of the Cochlear Duct

Age-related hearing loss is a progressive sensorineural hearing loss that occurs as people get older. Degeneration of the organ of Corti and atrophy of the lateral wall of the cochlear duct (or scala media) in the inner ear are the two primary causes. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of short non-coding RNAs that regulate the expression of mRNA/protein targets, are important regulators of cellular senescence and aging. We examined the change of miRNA gene expression profiles in the lateral wall of the cochlear duct in two mouse strains during aging The total RNA was extracted from the lateral wall of cochlear duct from CBA/J and C57BL/6J mice at different ages. The expression profile of miRNAs was examined by miR microarray GeneChip.