Changes in miRNA expression in mouse primary visual cortex following visual deprivation

Visual deprivation, either in the form of dark rearing (DR) or monocular deprivation (MD) are established paradigms for studying cortical plasticity. We have used miRNA microarray to uncover miRNAs whose expression is altered in primary visual cortex following DR and/or MD. C57BL6 mice were reared in normal light and dark conditions (control) till P28, in complete darkness since birth (DR) till P28, or were grown in normal light/dark conditions from birth till P24 and then subjected to lid suturing of one eye till P28. Mice were euthanized at P28 and their primary visual cortex areas were excised and subjected to RNA isolation. In the case of MD mice only the contralateral to lid suture primary visual cortex was extracted. 100ng of total RNA (tested and quantified using the Agilent Bioanalyzer 2100) were labeled using the Agilent miRNA labeling system and hybridized to Agilent murine miRNA arrays. Microarrays were hybridized overnight at 64 ºC, scanned using an Agilent scanner and extracted with Agilent feature extractor 10.1.