Microarray analysis of in vivo inhibition of mir-122 with an antisense oligonucleotide.. Mus musculus

Current understanding of microRNA (miRNA) biology is limited, and antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) inhibition of miRs is a powerful technique for their functionalization. To uncover the role of the liver-specific miR-122 in the adult liver, we inhibited it in vivo using a 2’-O-methoxyethyl phosphorothioate ASO. This microrarray experiment was used to identify changes in mRNA levels due to the inhibition of miR-122 that accompanied phenotypic observations of reduced cholesterol and triglycerides, increased fatty acid oxidation, and decreased fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis rates observed in hepatocytes. Keywords: single treatment vs. control Overall design: The experiment contains two groups of 5 mice: one group treated with an antisense to miR-122, and a second group injected only with saline as a control. RNA was extracted from individual livers, and each of these samples was hybridized to a single-channel chip. The design was intended to permit determination of statistically significant fold changes 1.5 and above.