Circ-HIPK3 plays an active role in regulating myoblast differentiation

The development of skeletal muscle is a complex biological process involving a variety of regulatory pathways. A deeper understanding of the developmental mechanisms of skeletal muscle is of great significance for the treatment of muscular lesions. In recent years, studies have shown that circRNAs, as a new class of post-transcriptional regulators, play an important regulatory role in a variety of biological processes, but their function in skeletal muscle development remains unclear. Here, we used C2C12 myoblasts to study circ-HIPK3, which has significant differences in the developmental stages of skeletal muscle and is highly expressed. We found that the expression level of circ-HIPK3 was significantly up-regulated (p < .05) with the persistence of C2C12 cell differentiation. Combining the results of bioinformatics analysis and dual luciferase reporter experiments, we found that circ-HIPK3 is a sponge of miR-124 and miR-379 that regulate muscle differentiation. Our study shows that circ-HIPK3 can promote the differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts, providing a scientific basis for further research on the development of skeletal muscle at the level of circRNAs.