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microRNAs miR-124, let-7d and miR-181a regulate cocaine-induced plasticity

  • Chandrasekar, Vijay Division of Biochemistry, Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Dreyer, Jean-Luc Division of Biochemistry, Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
    22.08.2009
Published in:
  • Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. - 2009, vol. 42, no. 4, p. 350-362
English MicroRNAs play key regulatory roles in cellular processes including neurogenesis, synapse development and plasticity in the brain. Psychostimulants induces strong neuroadaptive changes through a surfeit of gene regulatory mechanisms leading to addiction. MicroRNA profiling for identifying miRNAs regulating cocaine-induced, plasticity-related genes revealed significant regulation of a set of miRNAs upon cocaine administration, especially let-7d, miR-181a and the brain-specific miR-124. These miRNAs target many genes involved in cocaine addiction. Precursor and mature miRNA quantification by qRT-PCR showed that miR-124 and let-7d are significantly downregulated, whereas miR-181a is induced in the mesolimbic dopaminergic system under chronic cocaine administration. Results were confirmed by in situ hybridization, Northern blots, FISH analysis and RNase protection assay. Using lentiviral-mediated miRNA expression, we show a significant downregulation of BDNF and D3R both at mRNA and protein levels by miR-124 and let-7d, respectively. Our data suggest that miR-124, let-7d and miR-181a may be involved in a complex feedback loop with cocaine-responsive plasticity genes, highlighting the possibility that some miRNAs are key regulators of the reward circuit and may be implicated in addiction.
Faculty
Faculté des sciences et de médecine
Department
Département de Médecine
Language
  • English
Classification
Biological sciences
License
License undefined
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/301417
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