Figure 4.

Effects of miR‐29b on expression of col‐1 and α‐SMA. Real‐time RT‐PCR (A, C), ELISA (B) and western blot (D, E) showed that col‐1/α‐SMA were upregulated by TGF‐β1, then significantly downregulated by miR‐29b overexpression or Smad3 silencing (*P < 0.05). Col‐1/α‐SMA levels in the Smad3 silencing group were even lower than the miR‐29b transfection group. The results suggest that miR‐29b has a notable inhibitory effect on TGF‐β1‐mediated LX‐2 activation and that Smad3 plays a key role in TGF‐β1‐mediated fibrosis