Age-Dependent Regulation of Dendritic Spine Density and Protein Expression in Mir324 KO Mice

In this study, we aimed to characterize the role of miRNA-324-5p in developmental spine regulation by assessing the effect ofMir324 knockout (KO) on dendritic spine density and expression of a subset of dendritic proteins at select developmental time points. We show that miR-324-5p expression is developmentally regulated and peaks at 4  weeks of age. We demonstrate that loss of miR-324-5p expression leads to differential changes in both target protein expression and spine density at different time points during development, disrupting the pattern of spine density changes and leading to a premature loss of dendritic spines in KO m ice, which is compensated later. Our findings indicate that miR-324-5p plays a role in synaptic refinement across development. Additionally, our data illustrate the importance of context in the study of miRNA, as regulation by and/or of miRNA can vary dramatically across development and in disease.
Source: Journal of Molecular Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research