FIGURE 6.

Cardiac hypertrophy induced by testosterone in vivo. ORX rats were treated with testosterone (ORX + T) or vehicle (ORX). Normal rats were used as control group. In these animals, the following ratios were determined: (A) Left-ventricle weight/body weight; (B) Left-ventricle weight/tibia length. (C) β-MHC mRNA levels were assessed using qPCR (n = 6 rats per experimental condition). The mRNA levels of these hypertrophy marker genes were normalized relative to GAPDH mRNA expression, and the values shown here correspond to target-gene/GAPDH mRNA ratios. (D) β-MHC and (E) SKA protein levels were determined by western blot. The results of densitometric analyses are shown as ratios of β-MHC or SKA protein levels normalized to β-actin as protein loading control. Data are presented as means ± SEM; P-values were determined using ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post hoc test; ^∗P < 0.05, ^∗∗P < 0.01, ^∗∗∗P < 0.001 vs. control; ^#P < 0.05, ^##P < 0.01, ^###P < 0.001 vs. ORX group.