Fig. 8

Knockdown of miR-223 blocked the protective effect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on renal tubular epithelial cells (RTECs). After the kidney ischemia/reperfusion (IR) KM/NIH mouse models were established, the mice were abdominally intravenously injected with MSCs, miR-223 inhibitor (miR-223 in) transfected MSCs or hypoxia-pretreated MSCs (htMSCs). Kidney tissues were harvested at 24 h after injection. a The concentrations of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in blood samples were measured with ELISA. b Expression of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), B-cell lymphoma-XL (Bcl-XL), cysteine protease protein-1 (caspase-1) and cysteine protease protein-3 (caspase-3) in kidney tissue was detected by qRT-PCR. c Representative images from Western blot assays for apoptosis-related indicators. ^a P < 0.05, versus the IR model group; ^b P < 0.05, versus the I/R + MSC group. GAPDH glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, NLRP3 NLR family-pyrin domain containing 3