Background
Muscle atrophy caused by long-term denervation leads to the loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength, resulting in a poor recovery of functional muscles and decreasing quality of life. Increasing differentially expressed microRNAs (DEMs) have been reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of denervated muscle atrophy. However, there is still insufficient evidence to explain the role of miRNAs and their target genes in skeletal muscle atrophy. Therefore, an integrative exploration of the miRNA-mRNA regulatory network in denervated muscle atrophy is necessary.
Results
A total of 21 (16 upregulated and 5 downregulated) DEMs were screened out in the GSE81914 dataset. Med1 was predicted and verified to be significantly upregulated, which may affect the process of denervated muscle atrophy by regulating mir-146b and mir-1949. 59 target genes were then predicted by submitting candidate DEMs to the miRNet database. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that target genes of DEMs were mainly enriched in the apoptotic process and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Through the PPI network construction, key modules and hub genes were obtained and potentially modulated by mir-29b, mir-132, and mir-133a. According to the qRT-PCR results, among the hub genes, Ctgf was significantly increased, which was consistent with the decreased mir-133a in denervated muscle atrophy.
Conclusions
In the study, a potential miRNA-mRNA regulatory network was firstly constructed in denervated muscle atrophy. Two potential miRNA–mRNA pathways (miR-29b-COL1A1 and mir-133a-Ctgf) may provide new insight into the pathogenesis and treatment of denervated muscle atrophy.