Fig. 2.

Dioscin alleviates cardiac dysfunction in TAC-induced hypertrophy. C57BL/6 mice were subjected to sham or TAC operations. Mice were treated with dioscin or vehicle for 4 weeks from day 1 after operation (n = 8 per group). (A) Representative M-mode echocardiography is presented with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF, %), left ventricular fractional shortening (LVFS, %), interventricular septal thickness at diastole (IVS; d, mm), left ventricular end systolic posterior wall dimension (LVPW; s, mm). (B) The ratios for heart weight/body weight (HW/BW, mg/g) and heart weight/tibia length (HW/TL, mg/mm) post sham or TAC surgery were shown. (C) Gene expression levels of heart failure markers Anp, Bnp and β-Mhc were determined by qPCR assays using heart tissues. (D-G) Representative images of cardiac histological examination, including hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining (D), white germ agglutinin (WGA) staining (E), Masson staining (scale bar = 50 μm) (F), and active matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) staining (G). (H)The expression of Col1, Col3, Mmp2, and Mmp9 at mRNA levels in hearts were presented. N = 6 per group; *P < 0.05 vs. Sham, #P < 0.05 vs. TAC.