Figure 2.

Preserved cardiac structure and function in iron dextran-loaded mice after 13 weeks.

(a) Representative transthoracic echocardiographic tracings from the vehicle-treated and iron-treated mice; LV, left ventricle. (b) Fractional shortening (FS), (c) left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LV EDD), and (d) left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LV PWT). Echocardiographic analysis revealed no significant changes between vehicle and iron-treated groups. (e and f) Representative Prussian blue and picrosirius red staining. (e) Prussian blue staining shows visible accumulation of iron both inside and outside of cardiomyocytes in iron-treated mice (bottom panel). (f) Conversely, there is no collagen accumulation in iron-treated mice as evidenced by picrosirius red staining (middle and bottom panels). Vehicle, phosphate buffer saline-treated mice; iron, iron-treated mice.