title: Expression profile of microRNAs in fetal lung development of Sprague-Dawley             rats.
abstract: As well-known regulators of gene expression, microRNAs (miRNAs) play an             important role not only in cell proliferation and differentiation, but also in             tumorigenesis and organ development. Furthermore, it is estimated that miRNAs             may be responsible for regulating the expression of nearly one-third of the human             genome. Simultaneously, in the clinic, with advances in neonatal care, a larger             number of premature infants are being saved, and thus diseases of lung development,             including bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) have become more and more common. However,             only a few miRNA studies have studied their connection with diseases of lung development.             In our study, we used a miRNA microarray including more than 1891 capture probes             to profile the expression of miRNAs at three time points of rat lung development             [embryonic (E) Day 16 (E16), E19, E21]. miRNAs found to have consistent fold-changes             (fold-change>2.0) during all three time points were selected and validated             by real-time PCR. As a result, 167 differentially expressed miRNAs were found             during rat lung organogenesis, including 81 upregulated and 86 downregulated miRNAs.             Seven miRNAs were selected and characterized by having a consistent >2-fold             changes between all three groups. Among these 7 miRNAs, except for let-7a, the             other 6 miRNAs (miR-1949, miR-125b-5p, miR-296, miR-93, miR-146b, miR-3560) are             all first reported for the first time in lung development. Finally, due to the             fact that they demonstrated higher fold changes, from these 7 miRNAs we selected             miR-125b-5p, miR-296, miR-93, miR-146b and miR-3560 for real-time PCR. We hypothesized             that these newly identified miRNAs may play an important role in fetal lung development,             and this experimental result could help us to further clarify the mechanism of             normal lung development including the development of type II pneumocytes. This             may provide a physiological basis for future research on diseases of lung development.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pediatrics, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing                     210029, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Guo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kai
authors.forename: Xiao-Dan
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.forename: Kan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Qing
authors.forename: Xi-Rong
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Xiao-Yu
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D008168:Lung / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D038081:Organogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs