Abstract:

[Abstract] Objective To identify the miR-122which regulateing GATA4expression during the induction of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (bMSCs) differentiating into cardiomyocyte-like cells.Methods BMSCswere isolat? ed from bone marrow and induced to differentiate into cardiomyocyte-like cells using5-azacytidine. The miR-122which may regulate expression of GATA4were predicted using miRanda and TargetScan softwares and identified by dual luciferase report system. The expressions of miR-122and GATA4were determined using q-PCR during the differentiation of bMSCs into cardiomyocyte-like cells. Results The induced cells were completely in contacted with adjoining cells and uniform in shape and aligned parallelly. Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) expression was detected by immunofluorescence cytochemistry. Using dual luciferase reporter systemin vitro, miR-122were proved to be able to effectively inhibit GATA4expression by binding the 3′ UTR of GATA4mRNA. q-PCR results showed that the expression of miR-122is negatively correlated with that of GATA4mRNA transcription.Conclusion These results indicated that miR-122regulate the expression of GATA4during the induction of cardiomyocyte-like cells.

Key words: mesenchymal stem cells, MicroRNAs, GATA4 transcription factor, 3' untranslated regions, computational biology, rats, Sprague-Dawley, miR-122