Fig. 2.

The effect of early or late miR-135a-5p mimic or inhibitor treatment on hypoxia-induced proliferation of PASMCs. a–c After PASMCs were exposed to 21% O₂ (normoxia) or 3% O₂ (hypoxia) for 48 h together with a miR-135a-5p mimic or inhibitor treatment that started at the beginning of the hypoxic treatment, the cell viability of the PASMCs was determined by CCK-8 assays (a), cell proliferation was determined by [³H]-leucine incorporation (b) and the expression of the PCNA gene and protein (c, d) were determined in PASMCs. e–g PASMCs were exposed to 21% O₂ (normoxia) or 3% O₂ (hypoxia) for 48 h together with a miR-135a-5p mimic or inhibitor treatment that started after 12 h of hypoxic treatment, and the cell viability and proliferation of the PASMCs were determined by CCK-8 assays (e) and by the mRNA expression of the PCNA gene and protein (f, g) in PASMCs. Data are presented as the mean ± s.d., and n = 3 independent experiments for each panel. ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01 vs. normoxia; ^##P < 0.01 vs. hypoxia