ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Molecular and Cellular Pathology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1598018
This article is part of the Research TopicBrown and Beige Adipocytes: From Molecular Mechanisms to Therapeutic PotentialsView all articles
Differential Expression Profiles and Bioinformatics Analysis of microRNAs in Brown Adipose Tissue Dysfunction Induced by Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia in Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Provisionally accepted
- 1The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China
- 2Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China
- 3Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Second Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China
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Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep-related respiratory disorder. Although recent studies have shown that OSA may be an alterable risk factor for metabolic syndrome (MS), the precise mechanism remains unknown. This study was designed with the purpose of identifying differentially expressed microRNAs (DEmiRs) in OSA-induced brown adipose tissue (BAT) injury. In this study, mouse models of chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH)-related BAT injury were established using APOE mice. The microRNAs (miRNAs) expression profiles of the CIH-caused BAT injury were analyzed by the miRNA sequencing technology. The miRNA-seq data were analyzed using Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. An analysis of real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) confirmed the presence of several typical miRNAs. Ultimately, we constructed a network to illustrate the correlation between the miRNAs and target genes. In the CIH-induced BAT damage mouse models, 7 miRNAs experienced an up-regulation, and 16 miRNAs underwent a down-regulation. Six DEmiRs were confirmed using RT-qPCR. Additionally, GO and KEGG analyses were adopted to annotate the potential biological role of miRNAs. As a final step, we construct a miRNA-mRNA network for predicting miRNAs target genes. In conclusion, we first discovered that OSA-induced BAT dysfunction is associated with abnormal miRNA expression. This study exhibited a novel understanding of the potential molecular mechanism of OSA-related MS.
Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea, brown adipose tissue, microRNA, metabolic syndrome, Bioinformatic analysis
Received: 22 Mar 2025; Accepted: 07 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ji, Guo, Zhang, Lin, Li and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Qingshi Chen, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, 362000, Fujian Province, China
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