miR-9 and miR-103 trigger neuronal differentiation.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Northern blotting in SH-EP cells infected with lentiviruses expressing miR-9, miR-103 or empty lentivirus as control. (<b>B</b>) Representative immunoblotting of ID2 in SH-EP cells infected with lentiviruses expressing miR-9, miR-103, a combination of the two, or with empty lentivirus as control (CTRL). GAPDH was used as loading control. The histogram displays the relative amounts of ID2 – compared to control cells (mean values ± SD from three independent experiments. *: p-value<0.05; **: p-value<0.01). (<b>C</b>) Phase contrast images of SH-EP cells infected with lentiviruses expressing miR-9, miR-103, the two together, or control virus (CTRL). We evaluated the percentage of differentiated cells by counting the number of cells with neurites versus the total number of cells in three microscope fields. Percentages were al follows. CTRL: 0%; miR-9: 84.8±3.2; miR-103: 85.9±2.3; miR-9+103: 80,4±2,7. (<b>D</b>) Immunofluorescence staining of the neurofilament heavy polypeptide NF200 (red) in SH-EP cells infected as in panel C. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole, blue).