Investigating Anaemia using mice peripheral blood mononuclear cells gene expression profiling

Abstract

The aim of this project was to investigate space-induced anaemia and the effects of space flight in a controlled environment, by analysing available RNA expression data obtained from the blood of mice models exposed to both induced microgravity and radiation and those experiencing Earth-controlled conditions. This study utilized protein and RNA from mouse models to investigate haemoglobin control and regulation, hypothesizing that the observed results at the protein and RNA levels would correlate and validate each other. With advancing technology and growing interest in space exploration, including plans for extra-terrestrial travel and increased accessibility for a larger population, it is important to gain a comprehensive understanding on the long-term effects of space travel, such as space anaemia, and the impact of microgravity. In space you cannot distinguish between the effects of microgravity and radiation since they occur simultaneously. However here on Earth, by conducting controlled experiments, the physiological responses solely attributed to microgravity or radiation can be distinguished. This is what was carried out in this research study, 120 mice experienced induced microgravity for 12 days followed by either 1Gy of Solar particle event (SPE) or 0.5gy of galactic cosmic radiation (GCR), using HPLC to reveal if any changes were noted, before and after being exposed to a stimulus. Alongside this, a different batch containing 60 mice, were also exposed to the same conditions. Samples of their blood were taken to extract their total miRNA to be then sequenced by miRNA sequencing. This data was acquired from the NASA Gene lab. Some miRNas of interest and the target gene include : mmu-miR-34a-5p affecting MBD4, mmu-miR-466-3b targeting NANOG, mmu-miR-150-5p affecting MYB, mmu-miR-211-5p targeting CHD3 and more. The scope behind the miRNA data was to find clinically important upregulated and downregulated miRNAs when experiencing different space induced conditions, to then identify the key target genes involved. A correlation between the HPLC data and miRNA data was noted, validating our results.