Fig. 1

Histological characteristics and miRNA expression profiles in the antler growth center. A Histology of antler growth center grown for 60 days in sika deer, and the tissue layers of reserve mesenchyme (RM), precartilage (PC), and cartilage (CA) are clearly marked on tissue sections, hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) + Alcian blue, and Col II immunohistochemical staining, respectively (scale bar, 5 mm). Higher magnification version of the tissue layers of RM, PC, and CA are shown in right (scale bar, 200 μm). B Expression heatmap of 19 significantly differentially expressed (SDE) miRNAs between RM, PC, and CA tissue layers (TPM ≥ 5000). C Shared differentially expressed genes between RM, PC, and CA tissue layers. Among these miRNAs, five miRNAs were upregulated. D miR-140-3p was the only one of the 5 upregulated miRNAs and 19 SDE miRNAs shared between RM and PC, PC and CA, and RM and CA. E Expression status of five miRNAs verified using stem-loop qPCR in the RM, PC, and CA tissue layers (n = 3, biological replicates per group). Data are presented as the mean ± standard error. Two-tailed Student’s t-test was used to compare the differences between two groups. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. F Correlation analysis of stem-loop qPCR and miRNA sequencing data. The x axis and y axis denote the values of qPCR and RNA-seq, respectively