Figure 5. Grem2 improves cardiac function after MI.

WT and TG^Grem2 mice (both in C57BL/6 background), as well as WT^mix and Grem2^−/− mice (both in mixed C57BL/6 and 129/Sv background) underwent permanent ligation of the LAD artery and cardiac dimensions were determined by echocardiography at several time points post-MI. (A) Fractional shortening (FS) and Ejection Fraction (EF) measurements at day 0 (baseline), 7, and 21 post-MI indicate cardiac function is improved in TG^Grem2 mice compared to their WT siblings, whereas Grem2^−/− mice exhibit worse cardiac function compared to WT^mix beginning at day 7 post-MI. (B) Improvement of cardiac function in TG^Grem2 mice is due to preservation of both diastolic and systolic Left Ventricular Internal Diameter (LVID_d and LVID_s) 21 days post-MI. Conversely, worsened function in Grem2^−/− mice is mainly due to higher LVID_s parameters as compared to WT^mix controls. ns=not significant; * P < 0.05; **P < 0.01. Student’s two-tailed unpaired t-test. WT N=6, TG^Grem2 N=10, WT^mix N=9, Grem2^−/− N=8. Bars represent means ± SEM.