Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 13 pp 13005—13022

Figure 1. Expression of miR-124 and p38 in coronary artery disease (CAD). (A) Comparison of miR-124 expression in blood plasma between patients without CAD (n=40) and patients with CAD (n=40). (B) Comparison of miR-124 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells between patients without CAD (n=40) and patients with CAD (n=40). (C) Comparison of p38 expression in blood plasma between patients without CAD (n=40) and patients with CAD (n=40). (D) Comparison of p38 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells between patients without CAD (n=40) and patients with CAD (n=40). (E) Hematoxylin and eosin staining of aorta specimens from atherosclerosis mice and control mice. Bar = 200 μm. (F) Quantitative analysis of the percentage of plaque area in control mice and atherosclerosis model mice. (G) Immunohistochemistry analysis of p38 protein level in aorta of atherosclerosis mice and control mice. Bar = 100 μm. (H) Western blot analysis of p38 protein level in aorta of atherosclerosis mice and control mice. (I) Western blot analysis of p38 protein level in RAW264.7 cells and foam cells. The foam cells were induced by treating with oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) for 48 h. (J) qRT-PCR analysis of p38 mRNA expression in atherosclerosis mice and the control mice. (K) qRT-PCR analysis of p38 expression in RAW264.7 cells and foam cells. (L) Stem-loop qRT-PCR analysis of miR-124 expression in atherosclerosis mice and the control mice. (M) Stem-loop qRT-PCR analysis of miR-124 expression in RAW264.7 cells and foam cells. β-actin was used as an internal reference in Western blot. GAPDH was used as an internal reference in qRT-PCR assay. U6 was used as an internal reference in stem-loop qRT-PCR. *, P <0.05, ** P < 0.01 and *** P < 0.001 compared with the control (or RAW264.7) group.