Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 18 pp 22459—22473

Figure 8. Inhibition of mTOR offset the protective effect of miR-19b-3p. In the in-vitro IL-1β induced IVDD model, HNPCs were transfected with miR-19b-3p mimics or treated with the mTOR inhibitor Rapamycin (0.1 nM) for 24 hours. (A) The miR-19b-3p expression was detected by qRT-PCR. (B) The phosphorylation level of mTOR was checked by WB. (C) WB was applied for assessing the PTEN/PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway profile. (D) CCK-8 was employed to examine cell proliferation. (E) Cell apoptosis was evaluated by TUNEL staining. ** P <0.01, *** P <0.001 (vs.IL-1β group). & P <0.05, && P <0.01 (vs.IL-1β+miR-19b-3p group). N=3.