Effect of RNA integrity on miRNA expression profiles by microarrays

The aim of the study was to determine the influence of tissue degeneration due to prolonged storage of tissues on RNA integrity and the miRNA expression profile using microarrays. There is some dispute as to which RNA integrity level is still acceptable for miRNA expression profiling by microarrays. Some authors claim that miRNAs are stable even in degraded total RNA, others say the opposite. Therefore, we wanted to clarify if miRNA are stable in degraded tissues and which miRNAs are the most susceptible to RNA degradation. Time-course analysis of miRNA expression in degrading mouse liver, heart and brain tissues stored at different temperatures.