Identification Of Exosomal LncRNAs From Peripheral Blood In Spinal Cord Injury Mouse Model

Abstract

Background Spinal Cord Injury ( SCI ) is a disease leading to permanent neurological dysfunction. In recent years, exosomes and non-coding RNAs have been considered as potential therapeutic agents for spinal cord injury. Based on ceRNA regulatory network, the role of non-coding RNAs has been paid attention to, and some genes related to the pathological process after spinal cord injury have been found. However, most gene studies only focus on exosomes and non-coding RNAs in spinal cord injury sites, and few genes related to spinal cord injury repair have been found. Objective We aimed to identify exosomes and non-coding RNA in peripheral blood after spinal cord injury, and to predict its role in spinal cord injury according to gene expression profiles. Materials and methods After successful modeling of spinal cord injury, rat exosomes were extracted from peripheral blood.Western-Blot was used to identify exosomes. After RNA was extracted from exosomes, total transcriptome sequencing and differential gene GO and KEGG Pathway analysis were performed. We selected potential genes for quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR) assays and predicted their potential regulatory networks. Results The successful establishment of spinal cord injury model was confirmed by Tarlov’s scores, and the extracted exosomes were confirmed by Western-Blot and electron microscopy. Among the significantly differentially expressed lncRNAs, XR_351404, XR_353833, XR_590719, XR_590076, and XR_591455 were associated with miRNA related to repair after spinal cord injury. Conclusions The regulatory effect of this network may play a key role in the repair process of SCI. The differential lncRNAs we found may serve as therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers for SCI.