Abstract: Objective To investigate the role of miR-16 in cell cycle and apoptosis in Neuro2a cells and explore the possible function of miR-16 in tumor. Methods The overexpression plasmid pcDNA3.1-miR-16 of miR-16 was cloned and introduced into Neuro2a cells. Real-time PCR was chosen to test the overexpression of miR-16. Cell cytometry was used to study the role of miR-16 in cell cycle and apoptosis, and apoptosis cells were quantitatively examined by TUNEL. Results After tranfection of pcDNA3.1-miR-16, the mature miR-16 was significantly overexpressed (P<0.05). Cell cytometry results showed that the cell cycle didn’t change after miR-16 overexpression while cell apoptosis were found and confirmed by TUNEL. Conclusion There was obvious apoptosis of Neuro2a cell after overexpression of miR-16, thus, miR-16 might involve in cure of tumor.

Key words: miR-16, Neuro2a cells, cell cycle, apoptosis, tumor