Fig. 7. MMP-14 activity facilitates Agrin availability in the extracellular matrix of neonatal mice.

(A) Schematic of the experimental design for neonatal mouse heart injury and MMP-14 inhibitor treatment. Myocardial injury by coronary artery ligation was conducted on P1, mice were simultaneously treated with a single intraperitoneal injection of 20 μM NSC405020 or DMSO (vehicle control), and hearts were collected on P4 for analysis by Western blot (WB). (B) Western blots for Agrin and β-actin from total heart tissue 3 dpi. (C) Quantification of the 260-kD isoform of Agrin protein normalized to β-actin and expressed in AU in neonatal mouse hearts following myocardial injury (3 dpi) and treatment with either DMSO or NSC405020. Statistical significance was determined using Student’s t test. *P < 0.05.