Purpose
Ischemia-Reperfusion (IR) injury has been implicated in numerous retinal disorders, the etiological expression of which can be associated with various protein coding and micro RNA genes. While much progress has been made towards identification of genes and pathways associated with retinal disorders, the regulatory mechanisms for their coordinated expression are just beginning to be uncovered.
Methods
Our laboratory has generated microarray mRNA and miRNA data using a rat ischemic model for 3 post-ischemic time points (0h, 24h and 7d). We computed correlation coefficients between miRNAs and their target genes in our datasets based on expression values over the three post-ischemic time points. We than grouped the genes and miRNAs based on their expression correlations.
Results
The graphic representations of changes in expression of genes and miRNAs showed inverse relationships, such that when genes were elevated in expression miRNAs showed reduced expression and vice versa. These findings support the hypothesis that the changes in expression of protein coding genes are in part a function of changes in expression of their corresponding miRNAs.
Conclusions
Based on preliminary data, we propose that regulated gene expression may control different phases of the disorder.
Keywords: 533 gene/expression