Analysis of miRNA expression profile of sciatic nerve in rats with spinal cord injury

Abstract

Abstract After spinal cord injury, the downstream peripheral nerves lose control, and the tissues lose the protection of peripheral nerves, which is easy to cause skin and soft tissue injury and wound difficult to heal. However, the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. In order to explore the mechanism of functional changes in peripheral nerves deprived of spinal cord control, we established a model of sciatic nerve transection injury combined with spinal cord transection injury in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats, and small RNA sequencing analysis, tissue staining and molecular experiments were used to analyze the changes in miRNA expression and degeneration of peripheral nerve stump. The results showed that after loss of spinal cord innervation, the response of rats to sciatic nerve injury was weakened, and Wallerian degeneration could not occur normally and angiogenesis was abnormal. Moreover, differentially expressed miRNAs were detected in the sciatic nerve stump of the two groups of rats with or without spinal cord injury. Specifically, miR-134-5p and miR-142-5p were decreased in the sciatic nerve stump after spinal cord injury. Therefore, we suggest that spinal cord injury may inhibit the repair process of sciatic nerve injury by down-regulating the expression of miR-134-5p / miR-142-5p.