Although nervous and vascular systems are functionally different, they usually share similar mechanisms for function maintenance. Neurovascular dysfunction has became the pathogenesis of several vascular and nervous disorders. Here we show that long non-coding RNA-MIAT is aberrantly expressed under neurovascular dysfunction condition. MIAT is shown as a regulator of vascular dysfunction, including retinal angiogenesis, corneal angiogenesis, and vascular permeability. MIAT is also shown as a regulator of retinal neurodegeneration under diabetic condition. Mechanistically, MIAT regulates neural and vascular cell function via MIAT/miR-150-5p/VEGF network. The eye is a valuable model to study central nervous system (CNS) disorders. We show that MIAT knockdown leads to cerebral microvascular degeneration, progressive neuronal loss and neurodegeneration, and behavioral deficits in a CNS neurovascular disorder, Alzheimer's disease. MIAT may represent a pharmacological target for treating neurovascular-related disorders.
Keywords: angiogenesis; long non-coding RNA; neurodegeneration; reactive glia.