Neuroscience
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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a public health problem that causes high mortality and disability worldwide. Secondary brain damage from this type of injury may cause brain edema, blood-brain barrier destruction, and neurological dysfunction. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and play vital roles in maintaining and regulating physiological function. ⋯ Some special miRNAs in blood were used in clinical trials for TBI diagnosis and prognosis prediction. Treatment with miRNA agomirs or antagomirs alleviated the lesion volume and improved neurological deficits post-injury. We review the current progress of miRNA studies in TBI patients and animal models and identify the prospects and difficulties involved in the clinical applications of miRNAs.
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Parkinson's disease is a debilitating neurodegenerative movement disorder, characterized by the progressive and selective loss of dopaminergic neurons located in the substantia nigra, leading to clinical motor symptoms. The factors involved in PD are rather multifaceted. There are many cellular pathways contributing to its neuro-pathogenesis, which include abnormal protein aggregation, impaired ubiquitin proteasome system, autophagy, and neuroinflammation. ⋯ Since they somewhat modulate many mRNA targets simultaneously, many cellular pathways may be affected by one individual miRNA. Moreover, miRNAs can stably circulate in cerebrospinal fluid and blood, and their expression pattern can reflect the molecular pathophysiology, thus making them promising biomarkers in PD diagnosis and prognosis. In this review, we will review the recent progress on miRNA's mechanism in PD pathogenesis and discuss the possibilities of miRNAs as PD molecular biomarkers.