AI Article Synopsis

  • The study explores the role of the miR-146 family, particularly miR-146b, in immune response and behavior in mice, highlighting its distinct expression pattern in neuronal cells compared to miR-146a, which is found in microglia and astroglia.
  • miR-146b deficient mice showed anxiety-like behaviors and improved cognitive abilities, possibly due to increased neuron count and reduced astroglial presence in critical brain regions like the hippocampus and frontal cortex.
  • The research suggests that elevated glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) expression in the hippocampus contributes to the observed behavioral changes and neuronal growth in the absence of miR-146b, providing insights into its specific role in brain

Article Abstract

The miR-146 family consists of two microRNAs (miRNAs), miR-146a and miR-146b, which are both known to suppress a variety of immune responses. Here in this study, we show that miR-146b is abundantly expressed in neuronal cells, while miR-146a is mainly expressed in microglia and astroglia of adult mice. Accordingly, miR-146b deficient (-/-) mice exhibited anxiety-like behaviors and enhanced cognition. Characterization of cellular composition of -/- mice using flow cytometry revealed an increased number of neurons and a decreased abundancy of astroglia in the hippocampus and frontal cortex, whereas microglia abundancy remained unchanged. Immunohistochemistry showed a higher density of neurons in the frontal cortex of -/- mice, enhanced hippocampal neurogenesis as evidenced by an increased proliferation, and survival of newly generated cells with enhanced maturation into neuronal phenotype. No microglial activation or signs of neuroinflammation were observed in -/- mice. Further analysis demonstrated that miR-146b deficiency is associated with elevated expression of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor () mRNA in the hippocampus, which might be at least in part responsible for the observed neuronal expansion and the behavioral phenotype. This hypothesis is partially supported by the positive correlation between performance of mice in the object recognition test and mRNA expression in -/- mice. Together, these results show the distinct function of miR-146b in controlling behaviors and provide new insights in understanding cell-specific function of miR-146b in the neuronal and astroglial organization of the mouse brain.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9265316PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells11132002DOI Listing

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