EXPRESSION LEVELS OF FMR1 POTENTIAL MICRORNA REGULATORS, DURING FOLLICULAR DEVELOPMENT IN THE RAT

MARINA LUZ INGRAVIDI; LILIANA DAIN; LAURA KAMENETZKY; IANINA FERDER

Congreso; V Congreso Colombiano de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2023

The FMR1 gene is located on the X chromosome and is implicated in various geneticdisorders, including Fragile X-Associated Primary Ovarian Insufficiency. Numerousinvestigations have shown dysregulated microRNA (miRNA) expression in patients affectedby Fragile X-associated diseases, and several miRNAs were identified as potential regulatorsof FMR1 expression. In previous bioinformatic studies conducted by our group, we selectedtwo miRNAs, miR-92a-3p and miR-19b-3p, that are highly expressed in the rat’s ovary andare good candidates to bind to Fmr1.This study aims to validate the expression profiles of these two miRNAs duringfolliculogenesis using a rat model of follicular development. Real-time quantitative PCRswere conducted using isolated RNA from rat ovaries enriched in three types of follicles:preantral follicles (from prepubertal rats), early antral follicles (induced by DES), andpreovulatory follicles (induced by PMSG). For each stage of follicular development, ovariesfrom 10 to 30 rats were randomly assigned to at least four different pools. Expression levelsof each miRNA were normalized to U6. Additionally, quantification of Fmr1 expression wasperformed across the same follicular stages. Statistical analysis was performed usingfgStatistics.The preantral stage of follicular development was considered the “control” stage andexpression of the miRNAs and of Fmr1 in early antral and preovulatory follicles wascompared to that “control”.Our results showed a threefold upregulation (p-value