The present study aimed to investigate the role and mechanism of micro RNA (miR)-128 in hypertension-induced myocardial injury. The peripheral blood of patients with hypertension was collected and the expression of miR‑128 was detected using fluorescence reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT‑qPCR). Primary myocardial cells isolated from rat in vitro were cultured under conditions of hypoxia and glucose deprivation, and miR‑128 expression was measured by RT‑qPCR. The expression of c‑Met protein was measured using western blot analysis and the apoptosis of transfected cells was measured by flow cytometry in rat myocardial cells following transfection with miR‑128 mimics or c‑Met siRNA. A luciferase assay was applied to assess the binding of miR‑128 to c‑Met mRNA. miR‑128 expression was significantly higher in hypertension patients compared with controls (P<0.05). miR‑128 expression was higher in patients with stage III/IV hypertension compared with patients with stage II hypertension. Similarly, miR‑128 expression in primary cardiomyocytes cultured under deprivation of oxygen and glucose increased with the culture time and reached a peak at 12 h. c‑Met expression decreased significantly (P<0.05) and the ratio of apoptotic cells increased significantly (P<0.05), following transfection of miR‑128 mimics. The number of apoptotic cells also increased when c‑Met expression was knocked down by siRNA. The dual luciferase assay indicated that fluorescence intensity decreased significantly in miR‑128 mimics and wild type c‑Met group (P<0.05), indicating that miR‑128 can directly target c‑Met. Therefore, the results of the current study suggest that miR‑128 may promote myocardial cell injury by regulating c‑Met expression.

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