Cell Culture and Treatments
Rhesus macaque choroid-retinal endothelial cell line (RF/6A) was purchased from American Tissue Culture Collection (ATCC, USA). The cells were cultured in Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI) 1640 medium, which is supplemented with 100U/mL penicillin, 100 µg/mL streptomycin and 10% fetal bovine serum. 10–15 passages of RF/6A cell line were applied for further research. The RF/6A cells were treated with normal glucose (NG group; 11mmol/L D-Glucose) or high glucose (HG group; 30mmol/L D-Glucose) for 72h. The cells were cultured in 5% carbon dioxide at 37℃. The medium was replaced every two days.
Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
Total RNAs were extracted from the incubated cells by TRIzol reagent (invitrogen, USA). After testing the purity and concentration, RNAs were reversely transcribed into cDNA using RT reagent Kit (TAKATA, Japan). Primers of miR−424 and CCND1 were shown as Table 1. Quantitative Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction(qPCR) was performed to detect the expression level by following the instruction of SYRB qPCR mix kit (TAKATA, Japan). The comparative Ct(△△Ct) method was applied to calculate the relative gene expression.
Table 1
Primers used in real time quantitative PCR
Primers
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Sequence (5’→3’)
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miR−424
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Forward
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5’- TGACAAAACGTGAGGCGC−3’
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Reverse
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5’-GCAGGGTCCGAGGTATTC−3’
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CCND1
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Forward
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5’-CACAGCTACTTGGTTTGTGTTCT−3’
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Reverse
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5’-GCCTCGAAGTCCTGCTTACA−3’
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GAPDH
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Forward
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5’-GCCCCCGGGTTTCTATAAATTG−3’
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Reverse
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5’- TGCGGCTAACTCTCGAACAG−3’
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Western Blot Analysis
Total protein was extracted after RF/6A cells were treated with RIPA Lysis Buffer (Beyotime, Haimen, China). The BCA protein assay kit (KeyGEN Bitech, NanJing, China) was applied to quantify the amount of the extract according to the manufacture’s protocol. Equal amount of protein samples was separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamidegel electrophoresis and transferred onto polyvinylidenedifluoride transfer membranes. Then, the membrane was incubated with primary antibody: CCND1, β-actin (all from Abcam, Cambridge, UK), at 4℃ overnight. After washed with TBST for 3 times, second antibody was applied and incubated for 1 hour at room temperature. The membrane was treated with ECL luminescence reagent (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Pittsburgh, PA, USA) and Protein signals were quantified using Quantity One software (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA).
Cell Group and Transfection
RF/6A cells were transfected with miR−424 mimic, miR−424 inhibitor or negative control of the two (all from KeyGEN Bitech, NanJing, China) in Cell Phenotype study. The cells were transfected with siRNA-CCND1, miR−424 inhibitor or negative control of the two (all from KeyGEN Bitech, NanJing, China) in Rescue experiment, shown as Table 2. The transfection processes were performed using Lipofectamine RNAiMAX reagent (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Pittsburgh, PA, USA) followed the manufacturer's protocol.
Table 2
The group and treatment of RF/6A cells
Group
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Treatment
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NG
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RF/6A cells cultured in normal glucose condition
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HG
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RF/6A cells cultured in high glucose condition
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Cell phenotype experiment
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miR−424 mimic
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RF/6A cells transfected with miR−424 mimic
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miR−424 MC
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RF/6A cells transfected with vehicles of miR−424 mimic as control
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miR−424 inhibitor
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RF/6A cells transfected with miR−424 inhibitor
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miR−424 IC
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RF/6A cells transfected with vehicles of miR−424 inhibitor as control
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Rescue experiment
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miR−424 inhibitor
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RF/6A cells transfected with miR−424 inhibitor
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inhibitor -NC
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RF/6A cells transfected with vehicles of miR−424 inhibitor as control
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miR−424 inhibitor + siRNA-CCND1
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RF/6A cells co-transfected with miR−424 inhibitor and siRNA-CCND1
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miR−424inhibitor + scrambled-siRNA
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RF/6A cells co-transfected with miR−424 inhibitor and the vehicles of siRNA-CCND1 as control
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MTT Assay
The RF/6A cells, at the density of 1×104 cells/well, were planted in 48-well plates with serum free RPMI1640 for 2h. Afterwards, the cells were incubated individually in NG or HG condition for 72h. 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT; Beyotime, Haimen, China) reagent was added to each well before the end of incubation. Finally, the purple formazan crystals were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The absorbance was recorded at 570 nm and calculated as optical density (OD).
Wound Healing Assay
RF/6A cells migration was assessed by scratch wound healing assay. Briefly, each group was added with 1mL mitomycin after 72h incubation. Then, the confluent monolayer was scratched with a 200μLyellow micropipette tip. Followed by further 72h incubation, the pictures were captured at 0h, 72h. The quantitative data of wound healing rate (%) was analyzed by Image J.
Tube Formation Assay
The 96-well plate was coated with 50µL Matrigel Matrix (BD Bioscience, USA) and placed at 37 ℃ for 30 min. The RF/6A cells were seeded into the Matrigel Matrix at the density of 2×105 cells/mL. Followed by further 6h incubation, the pictures were captured and the tube formation was analyzed by Image J.
Flow Cytometry Analysis
The RF/6A cells were fixed in 70% ethanol at 4 ℃ overnight. Then, the cells were treated with RNAse-A (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Pittsburgh, PA, USA) and were stained with propidium iodide (PI; Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA). Cell cycle analysis was performed by the FACSCanto Ⅱ flow cytometer (BD Biosciences, USA).
Dual Luciferase Reporter Analysis
Potential target genes of miR−424 were predicted based on Bioinformatics analysis tools (http://mirdb.org/, http://www.targetscan.org/, http://mirtarbase.mbc.nctu.edu.tw/php/index.php).
As one of the hypothetical genes, CCND1 was confirmed with Luciferase reporter analysis. Briefly, RF/6A cells were co-transfected with the 3’-UTR constructs and either miR−424 mimic (all from KeyGEN Bitech, NanJing, China) or the negative control using Lipofectamine 3000(Thermo Fisher Scientific, Pittsburgh, PA, USA), shown as Table 3. After 36h of incubation, the luciferase activities were measured using the Dual-Luciferase Assay kit (KeyGEN Bitech, NanJing, China) according to the manufacturer’s instruction.
Table 3
The groups and treatment of luciferase reporter analysis
Group
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Treatment
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miR−424 mimic + WT -CCND1
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RF/6A cells co-transfected with miR−424 mimic and CCND1 3’UTR wild type
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miR-NC + WT-CCND1
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RF/6A cells co-transfected with CCND1 3’UTR wild type and vehicles of miR−424 mimic
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miR−424 mimic + MUT-CCND1
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RF/6A cells co-transfected with miR−424 mimic and CCND1 3’UTR Mutant
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miR-NC + MUT-CCND1
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RF/6A cells co-transfected with CCND1 3’UTR Mutant and vehicles of miR−424 mimic
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Statistical Analysis
All the experiments are replicated three times. The data was presented as the mean ± standard deviation (SD). The differences between variables were analyzed using t-test between two groups and one-way ANOVA among multiple groups. A value of P < 0.05 was considered to indicate statistically significant differences.