Fig. 1

MiR-148-5p is up-regulated by HUC-MSCs in HSCs and inhibits the activation of HSCs. a Volcano plot of differentially expressed miRNAs in activated LX-2 cells cultured with or without HUC-MSCs from high-throughput sequencing. b Heatmap of differentially expressed miRNAs in activated LX-2 cells cultured with or without HUC-MSCs. c Three significantly up-regulated miRNAs were verified by qRT-PCR. d, e The mRNA levels of α-SMA and Col1α1 were assessed by qRT-PCR in activated LX-2 cells transfected with miR-154-5p mimics, miR-154-5p inhibitors, miR-148a-5p mimics, 148a-5p inhibitors, or their negative controls, respectively. f The protein levels of α-SMA and Col1α1 were detected by Western blot in LX-2 cells transfected with miR-148a-5p mimics, 148a-5p inhibitors, or their negative controls. The quantitative data are represented as the mean ± SD. Each experiment was repeated three times. *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01. HSCs hepatic stellate cells; HUC-MSCs human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells; miRNA microRNAs; qRT-PCR quantitative real-time PCR; α-SMA α-smooth muscle actin; Col1α1 collagen type I α1