posted on 2022-12-20, 21:33authored byJunjie Yu, Ge Huang, Qi Gong, Kai Zhang, Hossam El Din H. Abdelhafez, Yuting Du, Jiangfeng Guo
Di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP)
is an endocrine-disrupting chemical
(EDC) that induces epigenetic alterations, apoptosis, and oxidative
stress after biological exposure. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of
small noncoding RNAs with many regulatory functions and play a role
in organisms exposed to environmental chemicals. miRNA-mRNA prediction
indicated that pre-mRNA processing factor 3 (PRPF3) is a likely target mRNA for miR-375 whose expression is altered
by DEHP exposure. However, the interrelation between miR-375 and PRPF3 has not yet been confirmed experimentally. This study
aimed to investigate the effects of DEHP on miR-375 and PRPF3 in zebrafish. The expression of miR-375 was downregulated, whereas PRPF3 was upregulated at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional
levels upon stimulation with DEHP. The interaction between miR-375
and the 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR) of PRPF3 was confirmed by a dual fluorescent protein assay and a dual luciferase
reporter gene assay. The expression of PRPF3 at both
transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels was reduced in ZF4
cells when transfected with a miR-375 mimic but increased when transfected
with a miR-375 inhibitor. The results improved our understanding of
molecular mechanisms of toxicity upon DEHP exposure and presented
miR-375 as a potential novel toxicological biomarker for chemical
exposure.