Profiling of mRNA transcriptomic changes using RNA-seq in postmortem hippocampus of subjects with alcohol use disorder

Purpose: The goal of this study to examine mRNA transcriptomic changes in reward-related brain regions of subjects with alcohol use disorder. Methods: Total RNAs were extracted from postmortem hippocampus of 12 AUD and 12 control subjects. rRNA depletion RNA sequencing was performed and the sequence reads were processed using the bulk RNA-seq processing pipeline Pipeliner workflow (Federico et al. Front Genet 2019; 10, 614). AUD-associated mRNA transcriptomic changes were analyzed by the Limma-Voom method. Results: Differentially expressed mRNAs (absolute FC>2.0 & P<0.05) were identified in postmortem hippocampus of subjects with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Chronic alcohol consumption may alter mRNA transcriptome profiles in reward-related brain regions, resulting in alcohol-induced neuroadaptations. Cases and controls were matched by race, sex, age, etc.