Changes of liver transcriptome profiles following oxidative stress in streptozotocin-induced diabetes in mice

Background. Oxidative-stress (OS) was causal in the development of cell dysfunction and insulin resistance. Streptozotocin (STZ) was an alkylation agent that increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. Here we aimed to explore the oxidative-stress and related RNAs in the liver of STZ-induced diabetic mice. Methods. RNA-sequencing was performed using liver tissues from STZ induced diabetic mice and controls. Pathway and Gene Ontology (GO) analyses were utilized to annotate the target genes. The differentially expressed RNAs involved in the peroxisome pathway were validated by qRT-PCR. The glucose metabolite and OS markers were measured in the normal control (NC) and STZ-induced diabetic mellitus (DM) group. Results. The levels of serum Fasting insulin, HbA1c, Malondialdehyde (MDA) and 8-iso-prostaglandin F2 alpha (8-iso-PGF2 alpha) were significant higher in DM groups than NC group, while SOD activity decreased significantly in DM groups. We found 416 lncRNAs and 910 mRNAs were differentially expressed in the STZ-induced diabetic mice compared to the control group. OS associated RNAs were differentially expressed in the liver of STZ-induced diabetic mice. Conclusion. This study confirmed that the OS was increased in the STZ-induced DM mice as evidenced by the increase of lipid peroxidation product MDA and 8-iso-PGF2 alpha, identified aberrantly expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs in STZ-induced diabetic mice.