Objective    To determine the changes of platelet microRNAs duing trehalose cryopreservation.  Methods    Three bags of apheresis platelets derived from 3 healthy volunteer blood donors of same blood type were firstly mixed well

and subsequently distributed into the control group (22 ℃

with 100% plasma for 2 h) and the experimental group [10 ℃

with 70% trehalose preservation solution (TPS) for 5 d]. High throughput small RNA sequencing was applied to the 2 groups of platelets

and then the obtained bioinformatic data were analyzed

including known miRNAs identification

differential expression analysis and KEGG pathway analysis. Results    High throughput small RNA sequencing obtained 11 million clean reads data for each sample

and bioinformatic analysis identified 821 known miRNAs. In the known miRNAs

a total of 460 miRNAs were differentially expressed

among which 194 were up-regulated and 266 down-regulated. Among these miRNAs

44 known microRNAs had significant differences in expression level

and they were respectively enriched in the signaling pathways relative to storage impairment

such as calcium signaling pathway

MAPK pathway

apoptotic pathway and axon guidance. Compared to the control group

the expression levels of hsa-miR-4449 and has-miR-1296 were up-regulated significantly in experiment group (P0.01

with a fold change of 2)

but the expression of hsa-miR-665 was suppressed. Conclusion    After low temperature storage in TPS

platelets have distinctive profiles of differences in miRNAs expression

which suggested that miRNAs are involved in the protection of trehalose to platelet impairment in low temperature.