Figure 7.

CircHIPK3 and miR-30a-3p regulate silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis in vivo. (A) Strategy for circHIPK3 knockdown or miR-30a-3p overexpression or in bleomycin silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis mouse model. (B) MiR-30a-3p and circHIPK3 expression were measured by qRT-PCR in the treated mouse lung tissues for the indicated groups. (C) H&E staining, Masson staining, and IHC staining of Collagen I were performed to measure the severity of the lung fibrosis. (D) MiR-30a-3p overexpression or circHIPK3 silence attenuated the hydroxyproline content in the lungs of mice treated with SiO₂. (E) The protein expression of Fibronectin, Collagen I, and α-SMA in mouse lung tissues treated was determined by western blot. GAPDH was used as an internal loading control. (F) circHIPK3 silence or miR-30a-3p overexpression decreased the lactate levels in the lungs of mice treated with SiO₂. (G) Foxk2, HK2, PFKM, PKM2, and PDK1 were detected by western blot analysis. GAPDH was used as an internal loading control.