Fig. 1.

Administration of VPA attenuates CVB3-induced myocarditis in mice. Male BALB/c mice (n = 20 per group) were infected with PBS or CVB3 on day 0, and then treated with either VPA (i.p., 250 mg/kg) or vehicle (PBS) daily from day 0 to day 7 postinfection. The survival rate (a) and body weight change (b) were monitored daily until day 14. Paraffin sections of heart tissues were prepared on day 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 postinfection and cardiac injury was revealed by H&E. Representative H&E on day 6 postinfection was shown (c). The myocarditis pathological score was determined by analysis of the H&E-stained sections (d). Results are presented as the mean ± SEM of three independent experiments. ^* P < 0.05, ^** P < 0.01, ^*** P < 0.001, compared with CVB3 group