Preliminary screening of fluorine‐stained osteoblastic apoptosis‐related microRNA

AbstractEndemic fluorosis is a chronic systemic disease that seriously endangers human health. In high fluoride areas, people consume excessive fluoride for a long time through drinking water or food, which leads to chronic cumulative fluorosis in the body. Fluorosis can cause changes in the expression of some miRNA in cells, and the miRNA can participate in fluoride‐induced osteoblast activation through various signal pathways. To observe the differential expression of apoptosis‐related microRNA (miRNA) in mouse osteoblasts under the action of excessive fluoride. Primary cultured mouse osteoblasts, identified by osteocalcin (OC) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining, were treated with 20 mg/L sodium fluoride and 40 mg/L sodium fluoride for 12/24 hr, respectively, to establish the fluoride staining model for comparing and analyzing the sequence of miRNA among groups by bioinformatics methods; four miRNA chains were verified by fluorescence quantitative PCR. After treatment with 20 mg/L sodium fluoride for 12 hr and 24 hr, 128 miRNA expressions were up‐regulated while 36 miRNA expressions were down‐regulated. In Group 40 mg/L, 130 miRNA expressions were up‐regulated while 29 miRNA expressions were down‐regulated after 12 hr and 24 hr; 72 miRNA were up‐regulated and 2 miRNA were down‐regulated at the two time points. 10 up‐regulated miRNA and 2 down‐regulated miRNA with higher scores in Bioinformatics software were analyzed the target genes. Fluorescence quantitative PCR verified that the expressions of four miRNA were up‐regulated. Target gene analysis of the 10 selected mouse osteoblastic apoptosis‐related miRNA reveals their involvement of the functions of inhibiting or promoting apoptosis, which has certain theoretical significance for early identification of skeletal fluorosis. The involved signaling pathways include the Wnt signaling pathway, ubiquitin‐regulated proteolysis, Toll signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, pluripotent stem cell signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, phosphatidylinositide metabolism, FoxO signaling pathway, ErbB signaling pathway, autophagy, and so forth.