Hei Renyi, Chen Jun, Qiao Li, Li Xu, Mao Xiaobo, Qiu Jianhua, Qu Juan
Department of Otolaryngology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Changlexilu 15, Xi'an 710032, Shanxi Province, China.
Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2011 Aug;75(8):1010-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2011.05.005. Epub 2011 May 31.
Cochlear progenitor cells could be used to explore the cochlea developmental mechanism and for cell replacement therapy in deafness. MicroRNAs are small, noncoding RNAs that could regulate the cell fate of stem cells, as well as cellular proliferation, differentiation and maturation. An expression profile analysis of microRNAs is necessary to understand their complex roles in differentiating cochlear progenitor cells.
The microRNAs microarray was used to analyze microRNA expression changes while differentiating cochlear progenitor cells. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to confirm and compare the results of the microarray and to detect the expression pattern of several microRNAs during the differentiation of neural stem cells.
Nearly 100 microRNAs were identified from the microarray. Most showed changes in expression levels as cochlear progenitor cell differentiation progressed. The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction result demonstrated that the miR-183 family exhibits cell-specific expression in cochlear progenitor cells compared with neural stem cells.
The temporal regulation of these microRNAs indicated that they might play different roles in differentiating cochlear progenitor cells, and that specific microRNAs might influence the cell fate determination of cochlear progenitor cells.
耳蜗祖细胞可用于探索耳蜗发育机制及耳聋的细胞替代治疗。微小RNA是一类小的非编码RNA，可调节干细胞的细胞命运以及细胞的增殖、分化和成熟。对微小RNA进行表达谱分析对于了解它们在耳蜗祖细胞分化中的复杂作用至关重要。
使用微小RNA芯片分析耳蜗祖细胞分化过程中微小RNA的表达变化。采用定量实时聚合酶链反应来确认和比较芯片结果，并检测神经干细胞分化过程中几种微小RNA的表达模式。
从芯片中鉴定出近100种微小RNA。随着耳蜗祖细胞分化的进行，大多数微小RNA的表达水平发生了变化。定量实时聚合酶链反应结果表明，与神经干细胞相比，miR-183家族在耳蜗祖细胞中表现出细胞特异性表达。
这些微小RNA的时序调控表明它们可能在耳蜗祖细胞分化中发挥不同作用，且特定的微小RNA可能影响耳蜗祖细胞的细胞命运决定。
