Fig. 4

FGF21 is a downstream target of miR-149-5p that mediated uric acid-induced lipid accumulation in hepatocytes. a Diagram showing miR-149-5p binding sites predicted by miRwalk in the FGF21 3’UTR region. b Luciferase activity assays showed that miR-149-5p mimic significantly reduced the luciferase activity of wild type but not mutant 3’UTR of FGF21. c Western blot confirmed that miR-149-5p mimic significantly inhibited FGF21 expression. d Uric acid stimulation significantly down-regulated FGF21 expression, while miR-149-5p inhibitor restored the expression of FGF21 in uric acid-stimulated AML-12 cells. e Inhibiting FGF21 abolished the ameliorative effect of miR-149-5p inhibitor on uric acid-induced triglyceride accumulation in AML-12 cells. f Overexpression of FGF21 prevented the triglyceride accumulation induced by miR-149-5p mimic in AML-12 cells. Data are presented as the mean ± SD of at least three independent replicates. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001 of two-tailed student’s t-test