Figure 6.

Effect of pharmacological inhibition of farnesoid-X-receptor (FXR) on myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury. (A–E) Farnesoid-X-receptor antagonist Z-guggulsterone (Z-Gugg) reduced post-ischaemic myocardial apoptotic responses determined by TUNEL labelling (A, n= 8–10 hearts per group), cytochrome c release (C, n= 7–8 hearts per group), caspase-9 and -3 activation (D and E, n= 8–12 hearts per group), and myocardial infarct size determined by Evans blue/TTC double-staining (B, n= 10–12 hearts per group). Mean values obtained from vehicle-treated myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion animals were treated as 100%, and individual values from each animal were normalized against the mean values. ^†P< 0.01 vs. sham; §P< 0.01 vs. myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion + vehicle.