Research Paper Volume 14, Issue 9 pp 4036—4049

Figure 7. PTX3 KD inhibited the viability of cardiac fibroblasts by down-regulating IL-6/STAT3 pathway in vitro. (A) qRT-PCR results confirmed the successful PTX3 KD in cardiac fibroblasts. (B) The transfected fibroblasts were exposed to IL-6 in the presence of TGF-β and cultured for 72 h. CCK-8 assay was performed to measure the cell viability. (C) Western blotting was performed to measure the expression of collagen I, collagen III and p-STAT3. (D) Primary cardiac fibroblast climbing sheets were stained with immunofluorescence staining for a-SMA, specific marker. PTX3-NC/TGF-β group vs. PTX3-KD/TGF-β group, *p<0.05, ** p<0.01; PTX3-NC/TGF-β vs. PTX3-NC/TGF-β/IL-6 group, ^# p<0.05, ^## p<0.01; PTX3-KD/TGF-β vs. PTX3-KD/TGF-β/IL-6 group, ^$ p<0.05, ^$$ p<0.01.