Profiling miRNA transcriptomic changes using Affymetrix miRNA4.0 in 6 regions of postmortem brains of subjects with alcohol use disorder. Profiling miRNA transcriptomic changes using Affymetrix miRNA4.0 in 6 regions of postmortem brains of subjects with alcohol use disorder

Chronic alcohol consumption may alter miRNA transcriptome profiles in reward-related brain regions. Given that miRNAs can regulate the expression of their target coding genes (or mRNAs) at the post-transcriptional level, alcohol-induced miRNA expression change may influence the expression of their targets mRNAs that are involved in alcohol use disorder (AUD)-related pathways, leading to increased risk of AUD. We used the Affymetrix GeneChip™ miRNA 4.0 Array to map miRNA transcriptome profiles in six reward-related regions of postmortem brains of AUD and control subjects and identified differentially expressed miRNAs. Overall design: Total RNAs were extracted from tissue samples dissected from six regions (amygdala, caudate nucleus, cerebellum, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and putamen) of postmortem brains of 8 male patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and 8 male control subjects. Both AUD patients and control subjects were assessed with DSM-IV. The Affymetrix miRNA4.0 microarray data was processed using the Expression Console (EC) software.