Long non‑coding RNA NEAT1 promotes mouse granulosa cell proliferation and estradiol synthesis by sponging miR‑874‑3p

Pengju Zhang; Jinliang Gao; Shan Lin; Guangyu Lin; Weixia Wang; Chengcheng Tan; Xiaohui Liu; Xintao Li; Lichun Zhang

doi:10.3892/etm.2022.11731

Long non‑coding RNA NEAT1 promotes mouse granulosa cell proliferation and estradiol synthesis by sponging miR‑874‑3p

Exp Ther Med. 2022 Nov 24;25(1):32. doi: 10.3892/etm.2022.11731. eCollection 2023 Jan.

Authors

Pengju Zhang¹, Jinliang Gao², Shan Lin³, Guangyu Lin⁴, Weixia Wang¹, Chengcheng Tan¹, Xiaohui Liu¹, Xintao Li¹, Lichun Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130000, P.R. China.
² Department of Rheumatology, The Affiliated Hospital of Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, Jilin 130117, P.R. China.
³ Medical Department, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130033, P.R. China.
⁴ Animal Husbandry Information Center of Jilin Province, Changchun, Jilin 130000, P.R. China.

Abstract

It has been reported that long non-coding RNA nuclear-enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1) is involved in follicular growth and multiple ovarian diseases, but not the physiological function of NEAT1 in mouse granulosa cells (mGCs). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the biological roles and regulatory mechanisms of NEAT1 in mGCs. The biological effects of NEAT1 on mGCs proliferation, apoptosis, production of 17β-Estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) were investigated using MTS, flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, respectively. The association between NEAT1 and microRNA (miR)-874-3p was verified using luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation analysis. The results demonstrated that the knockdown of NEAT1 in mGC cells significantly promoted mGCs cell proliferation, inhibited apoptosis and increased the production of E2 and P4 in mGCs. The interference-mediated effect of NEAT1 on mGCs could be partially reversed by the downregulation of miR-874-3p. Overall, these results indicated that NEAT1 served as a competing endogenous RNA by competitively binding with miR-874-3p, thereby modulating mGCs proliferation and the production of E2 and P4 in mGCs.

Keywords: apoptosis; estradiol synthesis; long non-coding RNA; mouse granulosa cell; nuclear-enriched abundant transcript 1.

Grants and funding

Funding: This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Basic Research Fund (grant no. KYJF2021ZR003) and the Program of Science and Technology Development Plan of Jilin Province (grant no. 20191001003XH).