Figure 4
Apaf-1 protein levels are elevated and miR-23b-27b cluster is decreased in cortices of E19.5 pups after hypoxia. (a) Coronal brain sections of E19.5 mice were stained with a cleaved caspase-3 (Cleaved-Casp3) antibody or with TUNEL staining kit. More positively stained neurons were observed in the hypoxia group (n=3) compared with the normoxia control group (n=3). Scale bar represents 100 μm. (b) Representative western blot images for Apaf-1 in the cerebral cortex under conditions of normoxia or hypoxia for 6 h followed by different recovery times (no recovery, recovery 6 h, or recovery 18 h). Relative fold changes of Apaf-1 protein level were quantified by densitometry (n=5, unpaired t-test, *P<0.05 and **P<0.01). (c) Quantitative RT-PCR detection of miR-23b and miR-27b expression in the cerebral cortices of different groups (n=5, unpaired t-test, *P<0.05, **P<0.01, and ***P<0.001). (d) Representative western blot images for Apaf-1 in primary cortical neurons under conditions of normoxia or hypoxia for 6, 12, and 24 h (n=3, unpaired t-test, **P<0.01). (e) Quantitative RT-PCR detection of miR-23b and miR-27b expression in primary cortical neurons under the conditions of normoxia or hypoxia for 6, 12, and 24 h (n=6, unpaired t-test, *P<0.05 and **P<0.01)
