FIGURE 9.

Knockdown of endogenous C/EBPα expression reduces miR-26a promoter activity. A, HASMCs were transfected with C/EBPα RNAi or its scramble form (SC-C/EBPα RNAi). Forty-eight hours after transfection, total and phosphorylated (p) C/EBPα levels were detected by Western blots. B, in a separate experiment, forty-eight hours after RNAi transfection, cells were transfected with the empty vector (pGL) or the constructs of the pGL1000 vector. Forty-eight hours after transfection, cells were stimulated with a 1-h stretch, and then firefly luciferase activities were estimated and normalized to Renilla luciferase activities. C, cells were transfected as shown in A. Twenty-four hours after transfection, cells were stimulated with a 1-h stretch for every 12 h. Cell size and protein synthesis were measured 72 h after transfection. *, p < 0.05 versus stretch alone. Gel pictures are representative of three separate experiments. Each bar indicates mean ± S.E. (n = 3).