Elevated Acute Plasma miR-124-3p Level Relates to Evolution of Larger Cortical Lesion Area after Traumatic Brain Injury.

Mechanisms initiated by traumatic brain injury (TBI), leading to the development of progressive secondary injury are poorly understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have a proposed role in orchestrating the post-injury aftermath as a single miRNA can control the expression of several genes. We hypothesized that the post-injury level of circulating brain-enriched miR-124-3p explains the extent of post-TBI cortical lesion. Three separate cohorts of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (total n = 57) were injured with lateral fluid-percussion-induced TBI. The miR-124-3p levels were measured in whole blood and/or plasma in cohorts 1 and 2 before TBI as well as at 2 d, 7 d, 2 months or 3 months post-TBI. The third cohort (22/57) was imaged with T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 2 months post-TBI to quantify cortical lesion area and perilesional T2-enhancement volume. Our data shows that miR-124-3p levels were elevated at 2 d post-TBI in both blood (FC 4.63, p < 0.01) and plasma (FC 1.39, p < 0.05) as compared to controls. Receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis indicated that plasma miR-124-3p level of 34 copies/µl or higher differentiated TBI animals from controls [area under curve (AUC) 0.815, p < 0.05]. The data was validated in the third cohort (FC 1.68, p < 0.05). T2-weighted MRI revealed inter-animal differences in cortical lesion area. Linear regression analysis revealed that higher the plasma miR-124-3p level at 2 d post-TBI, larger the lesion area at chronic time point (R = 0.327, p < 0.01). Our findings indicate that the extent of lateral fluid-percussion injury-induced chronic cortical pathology associated with the acutely elevated plasma miR-124-3p level.