Fig. 6.

MiRNA-21a-5p inhibition prevented STAT3-phosphorylated cell invasion and increased the number of PTEN-positive cells in the skin tissue of bleomycin-induced SSc mice. On days 14, 21, and 28 from the start of bleomycin injection, plasmid containing of scrambled anti-miR (n = 5) or anti-miRNA-21a-5p (n = 5) was hydrodynamically injected into the mice. The mice were sacrificed on day 33 from the start of bleomycin injection, and skin tissue sections were stained with antibodies against STAT3, phosphorylated STAT3 at S727, and PTEN. The graphs present the number of antibody-positive cells (mean ± SD, n = 5/group). Original magnification: 200 × . Scale bar: 100 µm