Whole-transcriptome analysis of rat cavernosum and identification of circRNA-miRNA-mRNA networks to investigate nerve injury erectile dysfunction pathogenesis

Abstract

There is growing evidence that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play a vital role in many kinds of diseases, including erectile dysfunction (ED). Nevertheless, the role of circRNAs in cavernous nerve-damaging ED (CNI-ED) is unknown. Here, we aimed to discover novel circRNAs, probed their potential role in the CNI-ED, and construct a ceRNA network of circRNAs. Twelve male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into 2 groups by us: bilateral cavernous nerve crush (BCNC) and control groups. Four weeks after surgery, the spongy smooth muscle tissue of the rat penis was sequenced using high-throughput full transcriptome sequencing. We analyzed the expression of circRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNAs in the two groups. Twenty circRNAs with significantly different expressions were selected for RT-qPCR. CeRNA network of circRNAs was established using Cytoscape. GO and KEGG analysis was done by R package. Sequencing showed that 4,587 circRNAs, 762 miRNAs, and 21,661 mRNAs were dysregulated in the BCNC group. The top 20 differentially expressed circRNAs were further verified via RT-qPCR.The ceRNA network contained ten circRNAs, six miRNAs, and 227 mRNAs, including 23 circRNA-miRNA pairs and 227 miRNA-mRNA pairs. GO and KEGG analysis suggested that these ten circRNAs could main regulate energy metabolism processes. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed with the mRNAs in ceRNA network, and five hub genes were identified. Our study revealed a potential link between circRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNAs in CNI-ED, suggesting that circRNAs may contribute to the occurrence of ED by regulating the cellular energy metabolism in CNI-ED.

Circulating miRNA-21 is an innovative biomarker for cardiovascular events in erectile dysfunction patients

“…In addition, similar time-dependent fluctuations in circulating miRNA-21 expression have also been observed in patients with post-myocardial infarction ( 27 ). Further studies are needed to reveal any potential link between miRNAs and circRNAs or miRNAs ( 28 ) correlated with prognosis and predictive value for heart failure ( 11 ) in CVD patients across different comorbidities ( 29 , 30 ) and populations, as well as therapeutic agents in treatment ( 31 , 32 ), including in female CVD patients. Studies have also investigated the potential use of circulating serum miRNA and fecal miRNA expression as non-invasive markers for early detection ( 33 ), which might aid in guiding therapeutics ( 34 ).…”

Molecular Mechanism of Sevoflurane Preconditioning Based on Whole-transcriptome Sequencing of Lipopolysaccharide-induced Cardiac Dysfunction in Mice

“…We identified lncRNA as previously described 14 using coding potential analysis with CNCI, CPC, and PFAM. Differentially expressed lncRNAs (DE lncRNAs) were defined with DESeq2 (adjust P value < 0.05, |FC| > 1.3).…”

“…Protein coding RNAs (mRNAs) and noncoding RNAs interact and influence each other, playing an important role in gene expression and regulation. Numerous studies have shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are typically longer than 200 nucleotides, 11 and microRNAs (miRNAs), which are small noncoding single-stranded RNA molecules, [12][13][14][15] mutually controlled each other's expression levels and collaborated to modulate mRNA expression. 16,17 Several lncRNAs and miRNA have been linked to lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cardiac dysfunction in the mouse heart 18,19 and play an important role in myocardial protection.…”