Research Article

Mechanism of Long Noncoding RNA HOTAIR in Nucleus Pulposus Cell Autophagy and Apoptosis in Intervertebral Disc Degeneration

Figure 2

HOTAIR knockdown inhibits autophagy and apoptosis of degenerative NP cells. si-HOTAIR was transfected into degenerative NP cells. (a) The expression of HOTAIR was detected using RT-qPCR. (b) Levels of autophagy-related proteins (LC3II/I, p62, and Beclin-1) were detected using WB. (c) The number of autophagic cells was detected using MDC staining. (d, e) The apoptosis of degenerative NP cells in each group was detected using TUNEL staining and flow cytometry. The experiment was repeated three times, and the data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Data comparisons among multiple groups were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. .
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)