Analysis of miRNA expression in mouse heart after myocardial infarction

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an important component of post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. We hypothesized that early changes in miRNAs may be important for responses to cardiac injury. The goal of this study was to use high throughput sequencing to determine which miRNAs are altered in the initial response to ischemia after myocardial infarction. Overall design: After ligation of the left anterior descending (LAD) artery in mice, ischemic heart tissue was isolated at 1 day and 3 days post-injury. Tissue was flash frozen and pulverized before RNA extraction. Sham-operated animals (no ligation of artery) were used as controls for each time point. Two mice were used for each condition as biological replicates.