MicroRNA-674-5p/5-LO axis is important in concanavalin A-induced acute mouse liver injury

Eight-week-old male pathogen-free BALB/c mice were used for the induction of concanavalin A (Con A)-induced hepatitis. Animals were acclimated for at least 6-7 days to a 12-hour light/dark cycle in a humidity- and temperature-controlled, specific-pathogen-free environment in autoclaved cages. Mice were randomly assigned to two groups (4 in each group) and received Con A type IV (or saline) intravenously via the tail vein at the dose of 20 mg/kg for 2 hours. The animals were sacrificed for blood and liver collection. Blood was taken for transaminase and cytokine measurements. Livers were excised immediately after sacrifice. Part of the livers were immediately snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and kept at -80°C for total RNA isolation and microRNA microarray analysis. miR-674-5p and other miRNAs were experimentally validated to be dysregulated by Con A in mouse livers. Liver samples from four mice treated with Con A and four mice treated with saline were used to acquire the miRNA expression profiling.