Fig. 11.

Effects of miR-29b-3p mimic on the expression of tight junction-associated proteins. Expression of tight junction-associated proteins in HaCaT cells were determined by Western blot and immunofluorescent staining after cells were transfected with miR-29b-3p mimic for 24 h prior to exposure to 20 μg/mL of Nano-Ni for another 24 h. A microRNA mimic negative control (miR-NC) was used to see if there are any off-targeting effects of miR-29b-3p mimic. a is the results of one experiment of Western blot, while b is normalized band densitometry readings averaged from three independent experiments ± SE. * Significant difference as compared with the control group, p < 0.05; # Significant difference as compared with the group with Nano-Ni treatment and negative control miR-NC transfection, p < 0.05. c presents the immunofluorescent staining of ZO-1 (green staining) in HaCaT cells. DAPI (blue) stains the whole nucleus of a cell. Scale bar represents 20 μm for all panels