Figure 2.

Analysis of myocardial mRNA levels of the extracellular matrix components collagen I and III, and the profibrotic factors TGF-β1 and TNF-α by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction of tissues from negative control, vehicle control, and experiment group rats. Relative expression levels are presented. GAPDH was used as the internal standard. ^#P<0.05, ^##P<0.01 vs. negative control. *P<0.05; **P<0.01 vs. vehicle control, n=8. TGF-β1, transforming growth factor-β1; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-α.