Abstract 324: δ-Opioid Receptor Activation Modifies Hypoxic Expression of MicroRNAs in the Rat Kidney

Cardiovascular dysfunction often causes blood/oxygen insufficiency in the kidney that is very sensitive to changes in oxygen/blood delivery. Indeed, hypoxic/ischemic kidney stress is a frequent problem in clinical settings. There is, however, no promising strategy for prevention and treatment of such injury. Since recent studies suggest that microRNAs are differentially involved in hypoxic/ischemic events and delta-opioid receptor (DOR) activation increases antioxidant capacity and protects against hypoxic/ischemic injury, we asked if DOR activation regulates microRNA expression in the kidney under hypoxic condition. We isolated microRNAs from normoxic and hypoxic rat kidneys and used the paired microRNAs for microarray analysis. Thirty-one microRNAs were selected for quantitative PCR analysis based on the microarray data. Among them, 14 microRNAs were significantly altered in response to prolonged hypoxia for 1, 5 and 10 days, DOR activation with UFP-512 (1 mg/kg/day, ip, at days 0, 4 and 8) or a combina...