Figure 5.

Morphometric analysis and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) assessment of left ventricular scar development. THI supplementation decreased myocardial injury and alleviated LV hypertrophy after myocardial infarction (MI). Scar and viable myocardium in the risk region were determined in Masson's trichrome-stained LV sections 35 days after myocardial infarction surgery. (A): Representative Masson’s trichrome-stained heart short-axis sections in vehicle- and THI-treated mice. (B): Scar, graphed as percentage of LV area, was decreased in hearts of THI-supplemented mice after infarction. Values are presented as mean ± SEM (vehicle-control, n = 14] vs. THI-treated, n = 25] groups). THI supplementation reduced scar progression at 5 weeks of follow-up. Scar and viable myocardium in the scar region were examined by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging using delayed enhancement at 5 days and 5 weeks after acute MI. (C): Representative short-axis images of CMR from vehicle-treated and THI-treated mice at 5 weeks after acute MI showing reduced scar size in the THI-treated arm. (D): Quantitative analysis of the scar size presented as the percentage of gadolinium enhancement of the left ventricular wall showing a similar infarct size at 5 days. At 5 weeks of follow-up, the scar size remained similar in the control-treated arm but was reduced significantly in the THI-treated arm. Values are presented as mean ± SEM (∗, p < .05 compared with control; and #, p < .05 vs. 5-day values). Vehicle treated (n = 7) vs. THI treated (n = 7). Abbreviations: LV, left ventricular; THI, tetrahydroxybutylimidazole.