miR-376b-3p attenuates mitochondrial fission and cardiac hypertrophy by targeting mitochondrial fission factor

Mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy. The disequilibrium of mitochondrial dynamic, which refers to mitochondrial fusion and fission, leads to mitochondrial morphology alteration and dysfunction. Enhanced understanding of the molecular mechanisms in depth may shed light on the therapy of the disease. In this study, we show that mitochondrial fission factor (MFF) is up-regulated upon hypertrophic agonist noradrenaline (NA) treatment. Knockdown of MFF attenuated NA induced mitochondrial fission and cardiac hypertrophy. Mitochondrial fission factor is a direct target of miR-376b-3p, which attenuated expression enhanced MFF expression through binding to its 3UTR. Expression of miR-376b-3p weakened the fragmentation of mitochondria as well as decreased hypertrophic response through regulating MFF in NA treated neonatal rat ventricular cells (NRVCs). This study suggested that miR-376b-3p is a novel modulator affecting mitochondrial morphology through targeting MFF.