MicroRNA profiling in brown adipose tissue and muscle-derived CD34+ cells

The major findings established a mouse brown adipose tissue (BAT)-enriched miRNA profile conserved in human BAT and predicted to target genes potentially involved in growth and development. The present results also identified a human skeletal muscle-derived CD34+ cell population with the capacity to differentiate into brown adipocytes in vitro. These CD34+ expressed common miRNAs to mouse and human BAT. Finally these findings show an up-regulation of 4 miRNAs in human adult skeletal muscle following cold exposure. These miRNAs were also present in mouse and human BAT as well as in CD34+ brown adipocytes.