Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Carrying MicroRNA-181c-5p Promote BMP2-Induced Repair of Cartilage Injury through Inhibition of SMAD7 Expression

Figure 3

Effect of hUCMSC-EVs carrying miR-181c-5p on the proliferation, migration, and cartilage differentiation of BMSCs. (a) Heat map of expression of the top 30 miRNAs with the smallest values in GSE99736. Color scale (blue to orange) indicates expression values from small to large (). (b) miR-181c-5p expression in hUCMSCs and their secreted EVs was determined by RT-qPCR. (c) miR-181c-5p expression in BMSCs after coincubation of hUCMSC-EVs was determined by RT-qPCR. (d) The fluorescence after treatment of Cy3-labeled hUCMSC-EV-miR-181c-5p (). (e) RT-qPCR for miR-181c-5p expression in hUCMSC-EVs. BMSCs were coincubated with hUCMSC-EVs transduced with the miR-181c-5p inhibitor. (f) miR-181c-5p expression in BMSCs was determined by RT-qPCR. (g) Proliferation of BMSCs was detected by the CCK8 assay. (h) Migration of BMSCs was detected by the Transwell assay (). (i) Cartilage differentiation ability of BMSCs was detected by Alcian blue staining (). (j) mRNA levels of collagen II, aggrecan, and Sox9 in BMSCs were determined by RT-qPCR. (k) Protein levels of collagen II, aggrecan, and Sox9 in BMSCs were measured by Western blot analysis. . All experiments were repeated for three times.

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