CHSU Discovery

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short 22 nucleotide long, non-coding RNA molecules found to play a pivotal role in post-transcriptional gene expression modulation within the nervous system. These imperfect sequence guides fine-tune rather than completely silence gene expression. While some microRNA shave specific targets such as miRNA-122 in the liver and miRNA-124 in the brain, most act on multi-target cells and tissue types with varying expression. More than half of the microRNAs are found to be in the nervous system inhibiting translation and promoting sequestration and degradation of target mRNAs. This paper explores miRNA's role in affective disorders through neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and long-term potentiation and depression.