Figure 2.

Light microscopic images of the myocardium from experimental animals. Fixed left ventricle of heart tissues in 10% buffered formaldehyde for 4 h dehydrated and incubated in xylol for 1 h twice, embedded in paraffin. 5 μm thick sections were stained with hemotoxylene eosin (a–d) and Masson's trichrome (e–h) before microscopic examination. Representative H&E-stained sections from the control (a), cholesterol (b), cholesterol + α-tocopherol (c), and α-tocopherol (d) groups. A significant number of cardiomyocytes exhibited myofibrillar loss (arrows) in cholesterol group rabbits (b). Masson's trichrome-stained sections from the control (e), cholesterol (f), cholesterol + α-tocopherol (g), and α-tocopherol (h) groups show fibrotic remodeling of the left ventricle. No difference of fibrosis levels was observed between all groups of rabbits. Photographs taken at 200x magnification (scale bar = 100 μm).