Differentially expressed miRNAs profiling and identification of 2-month-old Irs-1smla/smla mice, Irs-1+/smla mice and Irs-1+/+ mice. Mus musculus

To investigate the role of insulin-receptor substrate-1 (Irs-1) in the regulation of bone metabolism, we generated Irs-1-deficient mice (Irs1smla/smla). Using the highly sensitive miRNA array, we screened the differentially expressed miRNAs of 2-month-old Irs-1smla/smla mice, Irs-1+/smla mice and Irs-1+/+ mice. Three prediction algorithms (TargetScanS, miRanda, and PicTar) were used to identify the target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs. Furthermore, the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry and dual luciferase reporter assay results showed that miR-342-3p is a specific regulator of collagen type I alpha 2 (Col1a2), which will give new insights in disclosing the mechanism of diabetic osteopathy. Overall design: In this study, one sample from each type (Irs-1smla/smla mice, Irs-1+/smla mice and Irs-1+/+ mice) were used to acquire the miRNA expression profiling and the function of the abundant miRNAs in the diabetic osteopathy were analyzed by bioinformatic methods, finally, miR-342-3p was experimentally validated to be a regulator of collagen type I alpha 2 (Col1a2), an important molecule in the diabetic osteopathy.