Upregulation of miR-496 decreases cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury by negatively regulating BCL2L14.

Neurological functions were seriously impaired by cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury following ischemic stroke and its molecular mechanism is still not fully understood. MicroRNA-496 (miR-496) has been reported to be deregulated in several diseases but it still remains unknown about the function of miR-496 in cerebral I/R injury. Here, Middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) was performed to induce cerebral I/R injury in rats. Then, neurological deficits were assessed by Bederson and Longa score system. The 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) and terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase UTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining were used to evaluate the rat brain pathology. The oxygen-glucose deprivation and reperfusion (OGD/R) induced in vitro I/R injury was constructed in SH-SY5Y cells. The expression of miR-496 was determined using Real-time PCR. Bioinformatics analysis and dual luciferase reporter assay were utilized to confirm the target gene of miR-496. CCK-8, EdU staining, flow cytometry and Hoechst 33258 staining were respectively utilized to measure cell viability, proliferation and apoptosis. The results showed the expression of miR-496 was found to be down-regulated by cerebral I/R in rats and OGD/R-inducedSH-SY5Y cell model. MiR-496 overexpression alleviated the OGD/R-induced injury in SH-SY5Y cells. In addition, pro-apoptosis factor Bcl-2-like protein 14 (BCL2L14) was predicted and verified as the direct target of miR-496 and suppressed by miR-496. Furthermore, BCL2L14 knockdown exhibited similar effects similar to those of miR-496 overexpression, and the restored BCL2L14expression reversed the protective effects of miR-496 on SH-SY5Y cells. In conclusions, our results suggest that miR-496 alleviates cerebral I/R injury possibly via inhibiting BCL2L14 expression.