Figure 2.

Ox-LDL suppresses the viability and induces the apoptosis, inflammation, and oxidative stress of HUVECs partly through upregulating circ_0068087. (A) The interference efficiency of circ_0068087 siRNA (si-circ_0068087) in HUVECs was determined by RT-qPCR. This experiment was performed three times with three technical repetitions each time. An unpaired Student t-test was used to evaluate the differences. (B–K) HUVECs were divided into the following four groups: Control, ox-LDL, ox-LDL + si-NC, and ox-LDL + si-circ_0068087. One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test was used to assess the differences. (B) Cell viability was analyzed by MTT assay. This experiment was performed three times with five technical repetitions each time. (C) The apoptosis rate of HUVECs was analyzed by flow cytometry. This experiment was performed three times with three technical repetitions each time. (D,E) Western blot assay was performed to measure the protein expression of PCNA and Bcl-2 in HUVECs. This experiment was performed three times. (F–H) The concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α) in the culture supernatant were measured by ELISA. This experiment was performed three times with three technical repetitions each time. (I–K) Three oxidative stress-related markers (MDA, ROS, and SOD) were determined by commercial kits. This experiment was performed three times with three technical repetitions each time. *P < 0.05.