Fig. 6
From: Preclinical development of a microRNA-based therapy for intervertebral disc degeneration
Local delivery of miR-141 inhibitor NPs attenuated IDD development. a Overview of the experimental set-up with injections of miR-141 mimics, miR-141 inhibitor, or their negative control NPs at 1, 7, and 14 days after surgery. b In vivo time-dependent fluorescence image in mice at 24, 48, and 72 h after the administration of Cy3-miR-141 NPs. The color bar (from blue to red) indicates the change in fluorescence signal intensity from low to high. c Cy3-tagged miR-141 NPs analysis. Scale bar = 100 μm. d, e The intervertebral disc degeneration evaluated by X-ray and Safranin O staining. A significant increase in DHI% was noted at 6 and 12 weeks post-surgery in mice treated by miR-141 inhibitor NPs. Histological score showed a significant decrease in mice treated by miR-141 inhibitor NPs (6 and 12 weeks post-surgery). Scale bar = 50 μm. ***p < 0.001 by one-way ANOVA test followed by Tukey’s post hoc. n = 12 per group. f Immunostaining for Col II and MMP13 in IDD model treated by miR-141 NPs at 12 weeks. Scale bar = 100 μm. g Apoptotic activity determined by TUNEL staining of discs at 12 weeks. Scale bar = 100 μm. Data shown as mean and error bar represents s.e.m.
