Figure 1. Effect of TNC Deficiency on Cardiac Hypertrophy.

(A) Representative photographs of whole hearts harvested from the 2 mice genotypes demonstrated major differences in the heart size and posterior wall thickness at 2 months after surgery. (B) Representative histology of Periodic acid-Schiff counterstained with hematoxylin-stained cardiac sections from the left ventricular (LV) septal wall of wild-type (WT) and tenascin-C knockout (TNCKO) mice at baseline (BL), 1 month, and 2 months post-transverse aortic constriction (TAC). In general, cardiomyocyte size was increased in TAC mice relative to BL. Within the TAC treatment group, the LV from TNCKO mice had the greatest increase in cardiomyocyte area compared to WT mice. Cardiomyocyte area is represented as mean ± SE. (C) In representative photomicrographs of heart sections stained with Masson Trichrome, (magnifications: 10X [left] and 40X [right]), there was no detectable fibrosis at BL between the 2 mice genotypes, but there was a significant difference in fibrosis within the TAC groups. Each cardiac section (in % interstitial fibrosis/mm²) is represented as means ± SE.