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. 2017 Aug 2;12(8):e0181282. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0181282

Fig 4. Cardiac myocyte apoptosis.

Fig 4

A. Upper Panel: Example of TUNEL positive nucleus in photomicrographs from confocal microscopic images of transmural LV sections. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue) and apoptotic nuclei with broken DNA were labeled with FITC (green). Lower Panel: Quantitative analysis of cardiac myocyte apoptosis in AC6mut vs control mice before (Pre) and after continuous isoproterenol infusion showed group differences (2-Way ANOVA: Interaction: p = 0.17; Iso: p = 0.03; Gene: p<0.03). Cardiac myocyte apoptosis was increased >2.1-fold in control mice after isoproterenol infusion (p = 0.03), but was not increased in LV samples from mice with cardiac-directed AC6mut expression. Control mice showed more apoptosis vs AC6mut mice after 7d isoproterenol (p<0.03). Between-group comparisons made using Sidak’s multiple comparison test. B. After 7d isoproterenol infusion, LV caspase 3/7 activity was greater in control mice (Con) than in AC6mut mice (p = 0.012, Student’s t-test, unpaired, 2-tailed). C. LV Bcl2 protein content showed group differences (2-Way ANOVA: Interaction: p = 0.001; Iso: p<0.0001; Gene: p = 0.19). Seven days after continuous isoproterenol infusion, LV Bcl2 was increased in AC6mut mice (M), compared to control mice (p<0.0001). Bcl2 was increased after 7d isoproterenol infusion in AC6mut (p<0.004). Between-group comparisons made using Sidak’s multiple comparison tests. In all graphs mean ±SE are shown. In C, summary data are normalized to GAPDH.