Analyses of Long Non-coding RNA and mRNA Profiles using Microarray Platform in Mice Brain during Japanese Encephalitis Virus Infection

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is the leading cause of epidemic encephalitis worldwide. JEV-induced neuroinflammation is characterized by profound neuronal cells damage accompanied by activation of glial cells. Albeit long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been emerged as important regulatory RNAs with profound effects on various biological processes, it is unknown how lncRNAs regulate JEV-induced inflammation. Here, using microarray approach, we identified 618 lncRNAs and 1007 mRNAs differentially expressed in JEV-infected mice brain. Six adult BALB/C mice (six weeks old) were randomly assigned to two groups: the JEV-infected group and the control group, each group have three mice for the following experiments. For the infection group, mice were inoculated intracranially with 200 PFU JEV (P3 strain) in 20μl DMEM, whereas mice belonging to the control group were injected intracranially with equal volume of DMEM. On day 6 post-infection, mice infected with JEV showed signs of acute encephalitis. Mice from both groups were euthanized, and brain samples were collected for further RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.