The role of miR-124 on the expression of neuronal and non-neuronal genes in the hair follicle stem cells

Hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) can be differentiated into neurons and glial cells. Different miRNAs regulate the proliferation and differentiation of HFSCs. So, this study aimed to evaluate the exact role of miR-124-3p on the expression of non-neuronal genes (CCND1 (cyclinD1), Tlx) NR2E1) and RCOR2 (CoREST) (and neuronal genes (DLK1, MAP2, and NeuN (Rbfox 3)).

This experimental study was performed on the stem cells isolated from the bulge region of mouse vibrissa hair follicles. The hair follicle stem cells differentiated into neuronal cells. Then, the cells transfected with miR-124-3p mimic and inhibitor. The mRNA levels of non-neuronal and neural genes were detected by real-time PCR (RT-PCR).

The results showed that neural induction and miR-124-3p mimic transfection significantly increased mRNA expression levels of neuronal genes MAP2, Rbfox3 and DLK1, but transfection with the miR-124-3p inhibitor increased mRNA level of non-neural genes CCND1 (82.71) and NR2E1 (962.07), respectively.

These results show that miR-124-3p may promote neuronal differentiation of HFSCs by inhibiting non-neural genes CCND1 and NR2E1.