Figure 8. Mitochondrial dynamics are involved in hypoxia-induced proliferation and apoptosis of PASMCs via Drp1.

(A): The number of proliferation cells was determined by Ki-67 assay; (B): the expression of Ki-67 mRNA in PASMCs were measured by the qRT-PCR; (C–D): the cells were fixed and stained with propidium iodide, and cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry. A set of representative flow cytometry results (C), and statistical analysis of three independent experiments (D); (E): the expression of PCNA mRNA in PASMCs was measured by qRT-PCR; (F): the expression of Caspase 3 mRNA in PASMCs was measured by qRT-PCR; (G): the expression of PCNA protein in PASMCs was measured by Western Blot; (I): the expression of Caspase 3 protein in PASMCs was measured by Western Blot; and (J): the relative expression of protein was determined by comparison to β-actin as the loading control. Drp1: dynamin-related protein 1; PASMCs: pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells; PCNA: proliferating cell nuclear antigen; qRT-PCR: quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction.