Figure 1.

Downregulation of miRNAs can inhibit HGF-induced hepatic differentiation. (a) Experimental design of the effects of miRNA on hepatic differentiation. hMSCs seeded on FN-pretreated culture plates were infected with lentiviruses expressing miRNA inhibitor sequences. The cultures were changed to hepatic differentiation medium 6 days after infection. (b and d) Hepatocyte-specific gene expression analyzed by qRT-PCR. Hepatocyte-specific gene expression was normalized to GAPDH expression, and the results are expressed relative to a value of one in the control hMSCs. The data represent means±standard deviation (n=3). (b) Albumin and HNF4A expression after hepatic differentiated hMSCs were infected with miRNAi-Lev. (*compared with msc, P<0.05 by Student's t-test; #compared with lev-nc, P<0.05 by Student's t-test). (d) Albumin and G6P expression in HepG2 cells infected with miRNAi-Lev. (*compared with HepG2 lev-nc, P<0.05 by Student's t-test) (c) Analysis of the LDL uptake ability of hepatic differentiated hUC-MSCs infected with miRNAi-Lev (green: EGFP; red: Dil-LDL)