Figure 7. Bcat2 depletion induces cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.
(a) Reduced activity of wild type (WT) Bcat2-3′UTR luciferase reporter in HEK293T cells co-transfected with miR-182 mimic, compared with miR-scramble. miR-182 did not reduce the activity of mutant (Mut) Bcat2-3′UTR luciferase reporter. Mutations in Bcat2-3′UTR are indicated in orange. (b) Reduction of Bcat2 expression in NO-treated NRCs and restoration of Bcat2 expression with anti-miR-182 treatment. (c) Bcat2 depletion in Bcat2-siRNA-treated NRCs. (d) Representative Bcat2-siRNA-treated NRCs after 24 hrs in a serum-free medium, compared with scramble-siRNA treated and control NRCs (co-staining with anti-α-actinin sarcomeric Ab and DAPI). (e) Increased cell surface area of Bcat2-siRNA-treated NRCs. (f) Western blot analysis of AktSer473 and p70-S6KThr389. (g) Relative change in Akt activation at AktSer473. (h) Relative change in p70-S6K activation at p70-S6KThr389. n = 3 independent experiments; * P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.