Fig. 5.

(Top panel) Sirius-red staining of myocardium from animals on a normal diet (N), a high-cholesterol diet (HC), and a high-cholesterol diet with simvastatin (HC + simv) for 12 weeks, viewed under polarized light, magnification × 20. Collagen I appears red/orange while collage III is yellow/green. As readily notable, both are prominently present in perivascular matrix of the myocardium of HC animals. (Bottom panel) Bar graph illustrates the percentage of total collagen and collagen III per myocardial area in the three study groups, averaged for 6 samples in N, 5 samples in HC, and 4 samples in HC + simv group; values as mean ± SEM, *p < 0.05 compared to animals on a normal diet, †p < 0.05 compared to animals on a high-cholesterol diet. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of the article.)