Project description:The role of extracellular vesicles (EVs), specifically exosomes, in intercellular communication likely plays a key role in placental orchestration of pregnancy and maternal immune sensing of the fetus. While murine models are powerful tools to study pregnancy and maternal-fetal immune interactions, in contrast to human placental exosomes, the content of murine placental and pregnancy exosomes remains largely understudied. Using a recently developed in vitro culture technique, murine trophoblast stem cells derived from B6 mice were differentiated into syncytial-like cells. EVs from the conditioned media, as well as from pregnant and non-pregnant sera, were enriched for exosomes. The RNA composition of these murine trophoblast-derived and pregnancy-associated exosome-enriched-EVs (ExoE-EVs) was determined using RNA-sequencing analysis and expression levels confirmed by qRT-PCR. Differentially abundant miRNAs were detected in syncytial differentiated ExoE-EVs, particularly from the X chromosome cluster (mmu-miR-322-3p, mmu-miR-322-5p, mmu-miR-503-5p, mmu-miR-542-3p, and mmu-miR-450a-5p). These were confirmed to be increased in pregnant mouse sera ExoE-EVs by qRT-PCR analysis. Interestingly, fifteen miRNAs were only present within the pregnancy-derived ExoE-EVs compared to non-pregnant controls. Mmu-miR-292-3p and mmu-miR-183-5p were noted to be some of the most abundant miRNAs in syncytial ExoE-EVs and were also present at higher levels in pregnant versus non-pregnant sera ExoE-EVs. The bioinformatics tool, MultiMir, was employed to query publicly available databases of predicted miRNA-target interactions. This analysis reveals that the X-chromosome miRNAs are predicted to target ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and intracellular signaling pathways. Knowing the cargo of placental and pregnancy-specific ExoE-EVs as well as the predicted biological targets informs studies using murine models to examine not only maternal-fetal immune interactions but also the physiologic consequences of placental-maternal communication.

Project description:Liver is uniquely capable to repair itself after injury. Multiple molecular and biochemical processes initiated after partial hepatectomy, lead to proliferation of all cells within the liver. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of highly abundant non-coding RNA molecules that cause post-transcriptional gene repression and are involved in several biological processes including cell cycle regulation and differentiation. We examined the expression levels of miRNAs in liver tissue received from control mice (L0) and compared them with the corresponding levels in liver tissue 12 hours after liver regeneration induced by 2/3 partial hepatectomy (L12). MicroRNA expression was investigated using microRNA profiling. Further qPCR analysis was used for validation of the differentially expressed microRNAs at an early stage of liver regeneration, induced by 2/3 partial hepatectomy. TargetScan and Gene Ontology (GO) analysis was performed in order to identify the possible miRNA target genes and their ontology, respectively. A subset of miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed during liver regeneration. Mmu-miR-21 and mmu-miR-30b* showed the higher levels of up-regulation in liver tissue from the hepatectomized mice at the end of the experiment (L12) compared to the sham operated mice (L0). Mmu-miR-21 up-regulation was further confirmed by qPCR. In situ hybridization (ISH) revealed that mmu-miR-21 exhibited the higher levels of expression at 12 hours post hepatectomy. On the contrary, mmu-miR-34c*, mmu-miR-144, mmu-miR-207, mmu-miR-207, mmu-miR-451, mmu-miR-582-3p and mmu-miR-290-5p exhibited <0.5 down-regulation in liver tissue after partial hepatectomy in L12 vs. L0 mice. Microarrays and qPCR results were in good agreement (Pearson correlation = 0.881). Our results provide important information regarding how microRNAs are deferentially expressed in murine liver tissue before and after partial hepatectomy. The early up-regulation of mmu-miR-21 during the process of liver regeneration suggests a regulatory role in liver regeneration in vivo.

Project description:Liver is uniquely capable to repair itself after injury. Multiple molecular and biochemical processes initiated after partial hepatectomy, lead to proliferation of all cells within the liver. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of highly abundant non-coding RNA molecules that cause post-transcriptional gene repression and are involved in several biological processes including cell cycle regulation and differentiation. We examined the expression levels of miRNAs in liver tissue received from control mice (L0) and compared them with the corresponding levels in liver tissue 12 hours after liver regeneration induced by 2/3 partial hepatectomy (L12). MicroRNA expression was investigated using microRNA profiling. Further qPCR analysis was used for validation of the differentially expressed microRNAs at an early stage of liver regeneration, induced by 2/3 partial hepatectomy. TargetScan and Gene Ontology (GO) analysis was performed in order to identify the possible miRNA target genes and their ontology, respectively. A subset of miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed during liver regeneration. Mmu-miR-21 and mmu-miR-30b* showed the higher levels of up-regulation in liver tissue from the hepatectomized mice at the end of the experiment (L12) compared to the sham operated mice (L0). Mmu-miR-21 up-regulation was further confirmed by qPCR. In situ hybridization (ISH) revealed that mmu-miR-21 exhibited the higher levels of expression at 12 hours post hepatectomy. On the contrary, mmu-miR-34c*, mmu-miR-144, mmu-miR-207, mmu-miR-207, mmu-miR-451, mmu-miR-582-3p and mmu-miR-290-5p exhibited <0.5 down-regulation in liver tissue after partial hepatectomy in L12 vs. L0 mice. Microarrays and qPCR results were in good agreement (Pearson correlation = 0.881). Our results provide important information regarding how microRNAs are deferentially expressed in murine liver tissue before and after partial hepatectomy. The early up-regulation of mmu-miR-21 during the process of liver regeneration suggests a regulatory role in liver regeneration in vivo. Twenty male wild type mice C57BL6J (8 weeks old) fed a standard diet were used for the liver regeneration experiment. Mice were housed in the animal facility of the University of Patras Medical School in temperature-, light- and humidity-controlled rooms with a 12-h light/dark cycle. All animal procedures were approved by the institutional review board of the University of Patras Medical School and were in accordance with EC Directive 86/609/EEC. A 2/3 partial hepatectomy (PH) was performed on 10 mice according to a recently published standardized protocol whereby the median and left lobes of the liver were removed and another 10 sham operated mice were used as the control group. The liver was allowed to regenerate and mice were sacrificed 12 hours after operation. Liver samples were collected from the sham operated mice (L0) and the hepatectomized mice at the end of the experiment (L12).

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Macrophage-derived extracellular vesicles regulate concanavalin A-induced hepatitis by suppressing macrophage cytokine production.

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