Fig. 3

Effect of miR-21 expression on apoptosis. The y-axis shows the percentage of cells undergoing apoptosis. No protective effect of miR-21 against heat induced apoptosis was observed at any time point in H9c2 cells which over expressed miR-21. However, a significant increase in apoptosis in cells with decreased miR-21 expression compared to the transfection control was observed at 5 h, further suggesting that miR-21 plays a critical role in the heat stress response