MiR-499a-5p was signi cantly down-regulated in degenerative tissues and correlated with apoptosis.Nonetheless, the biological function of miR-499a-5p in acute ischemic stroke has been still unclear. In this study, we found the plasma levels of miR-499a-5p were signi cantly down-regulated in 64 ischemic stroke patients and negatively correlated with the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score. Then, we constructed cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats after middle cerebral artery occlusion and subsequent reperfusion and oxygen-glucose deprivation and reoxygenation (OGD/R) treated SH-SY5Y cell model. Transfection with miR-499a-5p mimic was accomplished by intracerebroventricular injection in the in vivo I/R injury model. We further found miR-499a-5p overexpression decreased infarct volumes and cell apoptosis in the in vivo I/R stroke model using TTC and TUNEL staining. PDCD4 was a direct target of miR-499a-5p by luciferase report assay and western blotting. Knockdown of PDCD4 reduced the infarct damage and cortical neuron apoptosis caused by I/R injury. MiR-499a-5p exerted neuroprotective roles mainly through inhibiting PDCD4-mediated apoptosis by CCK-8 assay, LDH release assay and ow cytometry analysis. These ndings suggest that miR-499a-5p might represent a novel target that regulates brain injury by inhibiting PDCD4-mediating apoptosis.

MiR-499a-5p was significantly down-regulated in degenerative tissues and correlated with apoptosis. Nonetheless, the biological function of miR-499a-5p in acute ischemic stroke has been still unclear. In this study, we found the plasma levels of miR-499a-5p were significantly down-regulated in 64 ischemic stroke patients and negatively correlated with the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score. Then, we constructed cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats after middle cerebral artery occlusion and subsequent reperfusion and oxygen-glucose deprivation and reoxygenation (OGD/R) treated SH-SY5Y cell model. Transfection with miR-499a-5p mimic was accomplished by intracerebroventricular injection in the in vivo I/R injury model. We further found miR-499a-5p overexpression decreased infarct volumes and cell apoptosis in the in vivo I/R stroke model using TTC and TUNEL staining. PDCD4 was a direct target of miR-499a-5p by luciferase report assay and western blotting. Knockdown of PDCD4 reduced the infarct damage and cortical neuron apoptosis caused by I/R injury. MiR-499a-5p exerted neuroprotective roles mainly through inhibiting PDCD4-mediated apoptosis by CCK-8 assay, LDH release assay and flow cytometry analysis. These findings suggest that miR-499a-5p might represent a novel target that regulates brain injury by inhibiting PDCD4-mediating apoptosis.