Objective To explore the induction of cardiomyogenesis of microRNA-129 （mir-129） in rat bone marrowmesenchymal stem cells （BM-MSCs） and its mechanism. Methods BM-MSCs were isolated from Sprague-Dawley rats and cultured in vitro. Overexpression of mir-129 or both mir-129 and glycogen synthase kinase-3β （GSK-3β） in BM-MSCs was produced with a lentiviral vector system. All the BM-MSCs were divided into four groups: control group （MSCs），Lentiviral vectors＋MSCs group （Lv-MSCs），mir-129 transfection group （mir-129-MSCs），and mir-129＋GSK-3βdouble transfection group （mir-129＋GSK-3β-MSCs）. Five-Azacytidine （5-Aza） （10 μmol/L） was used to induce BM-MSCsdifferentiation into cardiomyocytes. On the 1st，5 th，10 th，15 th and 20 th day after induction，realtime-PCR was performedto detect mRNA levels of GATA-4，Nkx2.5 and MEF-2C. On the 10 th，15 th and 20 th day after induction，Western blottingwas performed to examine expression levels of cTnI，Desmin，GSK-3β，phosphorylated β-catenin and dephosphorylated β-catenin. Results Compared with the control group，at respective time points，mRNA levels of cardiomyogenic genes and expression levels of cardiomyocyte-related proteins of mir-129 transfection group were significantly elevated，theexpression level of GSK-3β was significantly decreased，and the ratio of dephosphorylated/phosphorylated β-catenin was significantly elevated. When both mir-129 and GSK-3β were overexpressed in BM-MSCs，mRNA levels of cardiomyogenicgenes and expression levels of cardiomyocyte-related proteins were significantly lower than those of mir-129 transfection group，and the ratio of dephosphorylated/phosphorylated β-catenin was significantly decreased. Conclusion Overexpression of mir-129 can promote cardiomyogenesis of rat BM-MSCs possibly via inhibiting GSK-3β production and thus decreasing the inhibition of phosphorylation of β-catenin which then enters the nucleus and activates downstream signaling pathways that regulate cardiomyogenic differentiation of BM-MSCs.
Abstract： Objective To observe the expression changes of microRNA 1 （miRNA-1） and microRNA 21（miRNA-21） after ischemic preconditioning （IPC）, ischemic postconditioning （IPO） and remote ischemic preconditioning （RIPC）in an ischemia-reperfusion rat heart model in vitro, as well as the expression of their target protein heat shock protein 70 （HSP70） and programmed cell death 4 （PDCD4）, and evaluate whether miRNA are involved in endogenous cardio-protective mechanism. Methods The Langendorff-perfused Sprague-Dawley rat hearts were randomly assigned into one of the four groups, control group （CON group, n=12）, ischemia preconditioning group （IPC group， n=12） , ischemia postconditioning group （IPO group， n=12） and remote ischemia preconditioning group （RIPC group，n=12）. Cardiac function was digitalized and analyzed. The expression of HSP70, PDCD4, B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 （Bcl-2） and Bax was detected by Western blotting. The expression of miRNA-1 and miRNA-21 was detected by real-time reverse transcriotion-polymerase chain reaction （RT-PCR）. Assessment of cardiac infarct size and myocardial apoptosis was determined using triphenyltetrazolium chloride （TTC） assay and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling assay （TUNEL） assay respectively. Results The expressions of miRNA-1 and miRNA-21 were up-regulated in IPC group, but the expression of miRNA-1 was down-regulated in RIPC group and IPO group （P＜0.05）. The expressionsof PDCD4, HSP70 and Bax were down-regulated in ‘conditioning’ groups compared with CON group （P＜0.05）. The expression of Bcl-2 was not statistically different among the four groups. The infarct size and the myocardial apoptosis in ‘conditioning’ hearts were significantly decreased compared with CON group （P＜0.05）. Conclusion The expressions of the miRNA-1 and miRNA-21 are different in IPC, RIPC and IPO groups, and their target proteins are not inversely correlated with the miRNAs in all the ‘conditioning’ groups.