MiR-125a-5p Alleviates Dysfunction and Inflammation of Pentylenetetrazol- induced Epilepsy Through Targeting Calmodulin-dependent Protein Kinase IV (CAMK4).

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNA) are known to play a key role in the etiology and treatment of epilepsy through controlling the expression of gene. However, miR-125a-5p in the epilepsy is little known. Epilepsy in rat models was induced by Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) and miR- 125a-5p profiles in the hippocampus were investigated in our experiment. Also, the relationship between miR-125a-5p and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CAMK4) was identified and the related mechanism was also illustrated.
METHODS: The miR-125a-5p mRNA expression levels were evaluated by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Western Blot (WB) was used to analyze the CAMK4 protein expression levels. Seizure score, latency and duration were determined based on a Racine scale. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to analyze the inflammatory factor expression. The relationship between miR-125a-5p and CAMK4 was detected through dual luciferase assay.
RESULTS: Downregulation of miR-125a-5p was observed in the hippocampus of PTZ-induced epilepsy rats. The overexpression of miR-125a-5p attenuated seizure and decreased inflammatory factor level in the hippocampus of PTZ-induced rats. The miR-125a-5p alleviated epileptic seizure and inflammation in PTZ-induced rats by suppressing its target gene, CAMK4.
CONCLUSION: miR-125a-5p may represent a novel therapeutic treatment for PTZ-induced epilepsy by preventing the activation of CAMK4. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.