Figure 4.

miR-145 promotes hepatic stellate cell activation and is susceptible to MEG3. (A) Following transfection, miR-145 expression levels in LX-2 cells were detected by RT-qPCR. (B) Following transfection and TGF-β1 treatment, miR-145 expression levels in LX-2 cells were detected by RT-qPCR. (C) LX-2 cell proliferation was quantified using the Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. (D) Immunofluorescence was used to determine α-SMA and COL1A1 expression in LX-2 cells. Representative images from each group are presented; magnification, ×100. (E) α-SMA and COL1A1 protein expression levels in LX-2 cells were detected by western blotting. **P<0.01. α-SMA, α-smooth muscle actin; COL1A1, collagen type 1 α1; MEG3, maternally expressed gene 3; miR, microRNA; NC, negative control; RT-qPCR, reverse transcription-quantitative PCR; sh, short hairpin RNA.