MiR-124 Promotes Neural Differentiation in Mouse Bulge Stem Cells by Repressing Ptbp1 and Sox9

The study demonstrated that miR-124 promoted neural differentiation in mouse hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) by repressing the expression of Ptbp1 and Sox9. HFSCs were isolated from mouse whisker follicles, and the expression levels of miR-9, let-7b, miR-124, Ptbp1, and Sox9 were measured using RT-PCR. It was found that miR-124 and let-7b levels significantly increased during neural differentiation, while Ptbp1 and Sox9 levels decreased. Overexpression of miR-124 led to increased expression of neuronal markers MAP2 and NeuN, indicating that miR-124 facilitated the differentiation of HFSCs into neuronal cells by targeting Sox9 and Ptbp1.