Figure 4. Left ventricular capillary density was increased in females following MI.

(A) Left ventricular (LV) capillary density was measured four and seven days following MI (medium-sized infarcts) in LV sections stained with wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) to identify cell membranes (red) and isolectin B4 (IB4) to identify capillaries (green). Scale bar = 60 µm. (B) Capillary density was measured and expressed as capillaries/1000 myocytes and capillaries/cross section area (mm²) from 4–5 regions per heart. The (a) and (b) indicate a significant increase versus the sex-specific sham. Black bars represent males and white bars represent females and data are presented as mean ± SEM for 5–6 samples per group. Groups were compared by two-way ANOVA with a Bonferonni post-test to determine the contribution of sex or surgery.