Figure 4.

Effects of long-term intake of P-BBG diet on left ventricular capillary and arteriolar density, VEGF and dectin-1 protein levels. (A) Representative images of left ventricular (LV) coronary arterioles stained with α–smooth muscle actin in Control and P-BBG hearts. (B) The P-BBG diet (n = 15) increased the number of LV coronary arterioles compared to Control group (n = 15); the results are shown as number of arterioles per mm². (C) Representative images of LV coronary capillaries stained with CD31 in Control and P-BBG hearts. (D) The P-BBG diet (n = 15) increased the number of LV coronary capillaries compared to Control diet (n = 15); the results are shown as number of capillaries per mm². (E) Representative images of myocardial VEGF detected in Control and P-BBG left ventricles. (F) The P-BBG diet (n = 15) determined a detectable elevation of myocardial VEGF compared to Control diet (n = 15); the results are shown as arbitrary units of intense VEGF staining. (G) P-BBG diet (n = 7) increased the myocardial protein expression of VEGF compared to Control diet (n = 7). Levels of VEGF are expressed as arbitrary units of VEGF (24 kDa, MW)/GAPDH (37 kDa, MW) ratio. Representative images of cropped densitometric bands of VEGF are shown. The full-length blots/gels are presented in Supplementary Figure 1A. (H) Representative images of cropped densitometric bands of dectin-1 are shown. The full-length blots/gels are presented in Supplementary Figure 1B. The myocardial protein levels of dectin-1 are similar in both Control (n = 7) and P-BBG (n = 7) hearts. Levels of dectin-1 are expressed as arbitrary units of dectin-1 (28 kDa, MW)/GAPDH (37 kDa, MW) ratio. P-BBG: low fat diet supplemented with barley beta-D-glucan enriched pasta (3 g/100 g of dry weight); α-SMA: α–smooth muscle actin; CD31: cluster of differentiation 31; VEGF: vascular endothelial growth factor; GAPDH: glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase. All measurements are mean ± SD. *p < 0.05 vs. Control.