Inhibition of lncRNA NFIA-AS1 Alleviates Abnormal Proliferation and Inflammation of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells in Atherosclerosis by Regulating miR-125a-3p/AKT1 Axis

Figure 2

KD of NFIA-AS1 inhibits the proliferation, migration, and invasion of Ox-LDL-induced VSMCs and promotes apoptosis. (a) Cell viability of VSMCs in control, Ox-LDL, Ox-LDL + si-NC, and Ox-LDL + si-NFIA-AS1 groups at 0, 24, 48, and 72 hours were detected by CCK-8 assay. (b) VSMCs in these four groups were stained with EdU. The nucleus was stained with 2-(4-Amidinophenyl)-6-indolecarbamidine dihydrochloride (DAPI). The proportion of EdU-positive cells was counted. Scale bar = 50 μm. The migration (c) and invasion (d) capacity of VSMCs was assessed by Transwell assay. Scale bar = 50 μm. (e) VSMCs were stained with PI and the cell apoptosis was evaluated by flow cytometry. (f) The expression of apoptosis-related proteins Bax and Bcl-2 was determined by western blot. GAPDH was the internal reference. *, **, and ***versus control group. ^# and ^##versus Ox-LDL + si-NC group.

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