Figure 6.

siRNA-CTGF transfection reduces basal and high glucose-induced MMP-2 mRNA (a) and protein expression (b) in HUVSMC. (a) Q-PCR (Taqman) results: Growth-arrested HUVSMCs were transfected with siRNA-CTGF plasmid for 24 hours and then exposed to normal or high glucose conditions for 24 hours. 1 μg of total RNA was reverse-transcribed into cDNA and analyzed for expression of MMP-2 mRNA by real-time PCR. Experiments were performed five times with the similar results (n = 5 in each group). (b) Representative Western blot (top) and values of total CTGF production (means ± SEM of 3 experiments, bottom). Results of total MMP-2 protein production were obtained from densitometric analysis and expressed as ratio CTGF/β-actin. * P < 0.05 vs scrambled siRNA transfection under normal glucose (NG) condition. # P < 0.05 vs scrambled siRNA transfection under high glucose condition (HG). Scrambled siRNA: scrambled siRNA plasmid transfection; siRNA: CTGF-siRNA plasmid transfection.