Circular RNA expression alterations are involved in OGD/R-induced neuron injury

Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a common clinical pathological process, and it is a key step in causing further ischemic organ damage. The mechanism of cerebral IRI is still not fully understood, leading to a lack of effective treatment. It has been demonstrated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) can act as miRNA sponges and play an important role in regulating gene expression through a circRNA-miRNA-gene pathway. The specific role of circRNAs in the pathogenesis of cerebral IRI, however, is still unclear. Thus, in the present study, we investigated circRNA expression differences in HT22 cells with oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) versus normal controls. The results from circRNA microarrays revealed that 15 circRNAs were significantly altered in the OGD/R model (p < 0.05) compared with the control group. Among them, 3 were significantly up-regulated, and the other 12 were down-regulated. Furthermore, the up-regulated expression of mmu-circRNA-015947 was verified using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Bioinformatics analysis revealed that up-regulated expression of mmu-circRNA-015947 could interact with miRNAs (mmu-miR-188-3p, mmu-miR-329-5p, mmu-miR-3057-3p, mmu-miR-5098 and mmu-miR-683) and thereby enhance target gene expression. KEGG pathway analysis predicted that mmu-circRNA-015947 may participate in apoptosis-related, metabolism-related and immune-related pathways, which are known to be involved in the pathogenesis of IRI. This research suggests that the overlapping expression of mmu-circRNA-015947 might be involved in the process of cerebral IRI and presents a novel molecular target for clinical therapy.