Figure 3. MiR-424 inhibits the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of hASCs.

hASCs were transfected with a miR-424 mimic and a miR-424 inhibitor for 24 h. A mimic NC (negative control) and an inhibitor NC were used as a negative control. Thereafter, the cells were incubated with basal medium (BM) or osteogenic medium (OM) and were continuously exposed to H₂O₂ until the indicated times. (a) qRT-PCR was performed to evaluate the expression of miR-424 at 3 days in response to the transfection of a miR-424 mimic and a miR-424 inhibitor. (b) The proliferation of hASCs after miR-424 overexpression and miR-424 knockdown was evaluated by a MTS assay. (c) ALP activity was evaluated after osteogenic induction for 7 days. (d) The mineralization of the cells was evaluated using Alizarin Red staining after osteogenic induction for 21 days. (e,f) The expression of RUNX2 and ALP, two key osteogenic markers, were evaluated after osteogenic induction for 7 days using qRT-PCR. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ns, not significant. The results indicate the mean ± SD of triplicate experiments. The images shown are representative of three independent experiments.