Figure 1. Comparison of DHE fluorescence in control and diabetic myocytes.

A, Images of myocytes from control (a) and diabetic (b) male rats. Panels c (control) and d (diabetic) show the uppermost nuclei in (a) and (b) after a lower threshold was chosen and pixels below threshold were set to an intensity of 0. All compared images were collected at the same camera settings. Scale bar in b, 10 μm. B, mean results obtained by analysis of DHE fluorescence images of nuclei from control and male diabetic rats. For this analysis, the mean fluorescence intensity of the pixels in seven nuclei in myocytes from non-diabetic animals (normalized as 100%) and 10 nuclei from male diabetic animals were compared using the threshold method of analysis. Mean DHE fluorescence intensity in nuclei from the diabetic myocytes was 155 ± 10%, compared to nuclei from the control rats (P < 0.003). Similar results were obtained when the nuclear images were analysed using a second method (see Methods), in which the fluorescence intensity in nuclei from the male diabetic rats was 151 ± 6% of that in nuclei from control rats.