Osteopontin (OPN), a novel hepatic damage marker, as well as several non-coding RNA seem to be associated with liver aging, a little studied and not yet defined process. The aim of the study was to evaluate the expression variations of OPN and miRNA-181a, the transcriptional profiling of long non coding (lnc) RNA GAS-5/miRNA-222 axis and lncRNA NEAT-1 in liver tissue of rats. In addition, to monitor the senescence process, the telomere shortening and TERT/TERC gene expression were also measured. Three groups of male Wistar rats were studied: A (n = 6, young); B (n = 13, adult); C (n = 10, old). Total RNA, including miRNAs, was extracted from liver and analysed by Real-Time PCR. Ultrasound and biochemical evaluation were performed in all rats as well as the histological analysis. OPN mRNA resulted lower in C with respect to A and B while miRNA-181a expression was significantly increased as a function of age. An increasing of both NEAT-1 and miRNA-222 expression as a function of age in parallel with a decreasing of GAS-5 expression in young and old rats, but not in the adults, was observed. A positive correlation was detected between miRNA-181a and miRNA-222. The hepatic ultrasound analysis revealed areas of hyperechogenicity distributed as a function of age. A significant telomere shortening was measured as a function of age while the two subunits TERT and TERC expressions showed an opposite trend. This work could provide a valid starting point to better understand the physiopathological changes during aging, pinpointing in the OPN/miRNA-181a axis significant predictors of successful aging.

中文翻译：

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衰老和生物标志物：不同年龄范围大鼠肝组织中骨桥蛋白/miRNA-181a 轴的转录水平评估。

骨桥蛋白 (OPN) 是一种新型肝损伤标志物，以及几种非编码 RNA 似乎与肝脏衰老有关，这一过程研究较少且尚未确定。本研究旨在评估大鼠肝组织中 OPN 和 miRNA-181a 的表达变化、长非编码 (lnc) RNA GAS-5/miRNA-222 轴和 lncRNA NEAT-1 的转录谱。此外，为了监测衰老过程，还测量了端粒缩短和 TERT/TERC 基因表达。研究了三组雄性 Wistar 大鼠：A（n = 6，年轻）；B（n = 13，成人）；C（n = 10，旧）。从肝脏中提取总 RNA，包括 miRNA，并通过实时 PCR 进行分析。对所有大鼠进行超声和生化评估以及组织学分析。OPN mRNA 导致 C 相对于 A 和 B 较低，而 miRNA-181a 表达随年龄显着增加。观察到 NEAT-1 和 miRNA-222 表达随着年龄的增长而增加，同时年轻和老年大鼠中 GAS-5 表达下降，但在成人中没有观察到。在miRNA-181a和miRNA-222之间检测到正相关。肝脏超声分析显示高回声区域随年龄分布。作为年龄的函数测量了显着的端粒缩短，而两个亚基 TERT 和 TERC 表达显示出相反的趋势。这项工作可以提供一个有效的起点，以更好地了解衰老过程中的生理病理变化，确定 OPN/miRNA-181a 轴是成功衰老的重要预测因子。