Abstract: Objective: To study the effect of rapamycin on expression of miR-30a in inflammatory periodontal ligament cells (IPDLSCs), verify the relationship of miR-30a and Beclin1, and study the mechanism of miR-30a on IPDLSCs autophagy. Methods: Cells were isolated from inflammatory periodontal ligament samples and cultured with 50ng/ml rapamycin (2 hours) and 10 nmol/L 3-methyl adenine (3-MA,12 hours), respectively. The cells were collected for total RNA. The expression levels miR-30a was detected by real-time PCR. The effect of miR-30a on Beclin1 was verified by real-time PCR, Western blot and the dual-luciferase reporter assay. Results: The expression of miR-30a in IPDLSCs treated with rapamycin was higher than that of group without rapamycin. The real-time PCR, Western blot, and the dual-luciferase reporter assay system demonstrated that miR-30a could suppress Beclin1 expression of mRNA and protein by targeting the specific 3’ untranslated region (3’ UTR) sequence of Beclin1 gene. Conclusion: MiR-30a can directly inhibit the autophagy-related gene Beclin1 expression and participate in the regulation of autophagy process in IPDLSCs.

Key words: MiRNA-30a , PDLSCs , Beclin1 , Cell autophagy