Author(s)

Yuying Wang¹, Rui He², Liangjun Zhong²

¹College of Life and Environmental Science, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
²College of Medicine, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.

Aims: Previous studies reported that reduced bone formation was identified in fasting adult female mice compared with the ad libitum control group. An increasing number of studies have shown that miRNAs contribute to bone homeostasis. Unfortunately, there are minor concerns about the underlying mechanisms in osteoblastic differentiation under malnutrition conditions. Methods: We investigated microRNAs (miRNAs) in osteoblastic differentiation under malnutrition conditions using high-throughput bioinformatics approaches. To screen for targeted microRNAs, sequences were quantified by aligning reads to miRbase using miRDeep2 software. Unadjusted p-values were calculated using the Student’s t-test. Genes with a p-value of <0.05 and log 2FC (fold change) ≥ 1 were considered differentially expressed genes (DEGs). DEGs were submitted to Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses, respectively. Results: They were mainly enriched in biological process terms type and biological pathways, respectively. Particularly, we evaluated seven microRNAs, mir-494 3p, mir-466, mir-455, mir-708, mir-298, mir-92 and mir-224, which likely play roles in osteoblastogenesis in fasting adult mice. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study on the expression pattern of miRNA in osteoblasts of malnourished adult mice. These targeting miRNAs may provide a potential therapeutic approach to treat osteoporosis.

RNA-Seq, microRNA, Osteoblast, Bone Homeostasis

Wang, Y. , He, R. and Zhong, L. (2018) Targeting miRNAs in Osteoblast Differentiation under Malnutrition Conditions. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 6, 111-119. doi: 10.4236/jbm.2018.65012.