Research Paper Volume 16, Issue 3 pp 2828—2847

Figure 3. STAT3 identified as a direct target gene of miR-124. (A) miRTarBase, miRDB and TargetScan were used to predict the potential targets of miR-124 and found the potential target genes (NEUROD1, LAMC1, ITGB1, KLF15, NR3C1, STAT3, CAV1); (B) The mRNAs expression levels of miR-124 potential targets; (C, D) The predicted binding sites between miR-124 and STAT3 according to the TargetScan; The neurons were randomly divided into 6 groups, i.e., vector+ mimics NC, vector +miR-124 mimics, STAT3-WT + mimics NC, STAT3-WT + miR-124 mimics, STAT3-Mut + mimics NC, and STAT3-Mut + miR-124 mimics. The relative luciferase activity was measured using a dual-luciferase reporter system; (E, F) The STAT3 mRNA was detected by qRT-PCR; (G) The protein levels of STAT3 was detected by Western blot; (H) Quantitative analysis of the protein levels of STAT3; Data were expressed as mean ± SD (derived from three independent experiments for each sample). NS, not significant for p > 0.05, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, and *** p < 0.001 (Student’s t-test (B, D), or one-way analysis of variance with Tukey’s post hoc test (E, F, H)).