Fig. 3

Overexpression of TFF1 restores miR-423-5p-mediated high glucose-induced apoptosis in RPE cells. ARPE-19 and RPE-J cells were divided into four groups: miR-423-5p mimic group, p-NC group, p-TFF1 group and miR-423-5p mimic group + p-TFF1 group. a The apoptosis rate was assessed by Annexin V/PI staining and flow cytometry. The results showed that overexpression of TFF1 significantly inhibited HG-induced apoptosis, and the overexpression of TFF1 partially restored the enhancing effects of miR-423-5p on apoptosis. b The relative protein levels of cleaved-caspase 3, Bax and Bcl-2 were measured by Western blot. The results showed that the transfection of p-TFF1 significantly downregulated the levels of caspase 3 and Bax and upregulated Bcl-2 levels. However, co-transfection of the miR-423-5p mimic and p-TFF1 reduced the effect of p-TFF1. Data are presented as mean ± SD. Three replicate wells were used per sample in each experiment and experiments were replicated three times. * P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01