Evaluation of differentially expressed microRNAs in vitrified oocytes by next generation sequencing

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play crucial roles in gametogenesis and embryo development. The present study was undertaken to identify differentially expressed miRNAs and explore their functions in oocyte vitrification. Small RNA sequencing data revealed that 22 miRNAs were differentially expressed in vitrified oocytes compared with that of the fresh counterparts. The potential target genes for the differentially expressed miRNAs were enriched in “anatomical development” in biological process, “cell” in cellular components, and “protein binding” in molecular functions by gene ontology annotation analysis. In addition, “endometrial cancer” and “metabolic pathway” were the two pathways enriched in KEGG with the lowest p-value and highest count number genes, respectively. RT-qPCR data showed that miR-134-5p, miR-210-5p, and miR-21-3p were significantly up-regulated (P