Liver miRNA Expression during the Rat Life Span in both Sexes. Rattus norvegicus

Global miRNA expression was examined in liver tissues from male and female F344 rats over the life span for the purpose of evaluating their possible roles in susceptibility to liver toxicity and disease. Hepatic miRNA expression was characterized at 2, 5, 6, 8, 15, 21, 52, 78, and 104 weeks of age in both sexes using Agilent 8x15k rat miRNA microarrays containing multiple probes for 677 unique miRNAs. Data processing, 75% normalization, and statistical analysis of microarray data were performed in SAS. Functional analysis (Ingenuity) was performed on select miRNAs exhibiting prominent age and sex expression differences. + Overall design: Untreated male and female F344 rats from 2, 5, 6, 8, 15, 21, 52, 78, and 104 weeks of age (n=5) were sacrificed by CO2 asphyxiation, whole livers collected and homogenized, total RNA, including small RNA fraction, was used for miRNA expression arrays (Agilent).

本研究针对雌雄F344大鼠全生命周期的肝组织开展全局microRNA（miRNA）表达谱分析，旨在评估其在肝脏毒性与疾病易感性中的潜在作用。采用安捷伦（Agilent）8x15k大鼠miRNA微阵列（该阵列搭载针对677种独特miRNA的多探针），对雌雄大鼠在2、5、6、8、15、21、52、78及104周龄时的肝脏miRNA表达特征进行鉴定。数据处理、75%归一化及微阵列数据的统计学分析均通过SAS软件完成。针对表现出显著年龄与性别表达差异的筛选后miRNA，开展了Ingenuity功能分析。+ 实验设计：选取2、5、6、8、15、21、52、78及104周龄的未处理雌雄F344大鼠（每组n=5），经CO₂窒息法处死，采集全肝组织并匀浆，提取包含小RNA组分的总RNA用于miRNA表达谱芯片检测。