Identification of microRNA/target gene in the dentate gyrus of 7‑day‑old mice following isoflurane exposure

Abstract

Studies on rodents and nonhuman primates suggest that exposure to anesthetics, particularly in the young brain, is associated with neuronal apoptosis as well as hippocampal‑dependent cognitive dysfunction. Disruption of the development of dentate gyrus may play an important role in anesthetics‑induced neurotoxicity. However, the anesthetics triggered molecular events in the dentate gyrus of the developing brain are poorly understood. By integrating two independent data sets obtained from miRNA‑seq and mRNA‑seq respectively, this study aims to profile the network of miRNA and potential target genes, as well as relevant events occurring in the dentate gyrus of isoflurane exposed 7‑day‑old mice. We found that a single four hours exposure to isoflurane yielded 1059 pairs of differently expressed miRNAs/target genes in the dentate gyrus. Gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis further indicates that dysregulated miRNAs/target genes have far‑reaching effects on the cellular pathophysiological events, such as cell apoptosis, axon development, and synaptic transmission. Our results would greatly broaden our functional understanding of the role of miRNA/target gene in the context of anesthetics‑induced neurotoxicity.