Fig. 3

Overexpression of microRNA-218-5p (miR-218) promotes osteogenic differentiation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-fibroblast-like synovial cells (FLS). a Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining at day 14 showed the enhanced ALP activity of osteogenic differentiation after transfection with precursor miR-218 (pre-miR-218) compared to scrambled RNA-transfected controls. Images are representative of five samples. b The morphology of RA-FLS with ALP staining. Right: RA-FLS were transfected with scrambled control. Left: RA-FLS were transfected with pre-miR-218 (magnification × 200). Images are representative of five samples. c Transfection of RA-FLS (n = 5) with pre-miR-218 for 72 h compared with scrambled RNA transfected controls increased the level of ALP, runt related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), catenin beta 1 (CTNNB1), cadherin 11 (CDH11) as determined by quantitative real-time PCR analysis. Values are presented as means ± SEM: *p < 0.05 versus scrambled RNA-transfected controls, as determined by Student’s paired t test