Mesenchymal Stem Cells Alleviate Renal Fibrosis and Inhibit Autophagy via Exosome Transfer of miRNA-122a

Figure 4

miRNA-122a relieves renal fibrosis caused by TGFβ in HK-2 cells through autophagy signaling and autophagic flux. (a) TGFBR1, α-SMA, Col1a1, fibronectin, and E-cadherin mRNA levels were measured by qPCR in HK-2 cells. (b) Western blotting analysis of TGFBR1, α-SMA, Col1a1, fibronectin, and E-cadherin protein expression in HK-2 cells. Quantitative analysis of TGFBR1, α-SMA, Col1a1, fibronectin, and E-cadherin protein expression is shown on the right ( independent experiments). (c) LC3II/I, p62, Beclin 1, ATG7, mTOR, p-mTOR, AKT, and p-AKT protein expression was evaluated by western blotting in HK-2 cells, and their quantitative analysis is shown on the right ( independent experiments). (d) The effect of miRNA-122a mimic on autophagy flux after treatment with an autophagy inhibitor in HK-2 cells as detected by confocal scanning laser microscopy. Results are expressed as the . Compared with the miRNA-NC+TGFβ group, , , and . Compared with miRNA-122a mimic+TGFβ, ^###, ^##, and ^#.

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