Figure 3.

GDF11 Overexpression Inhibits Skeletal Muscle Growth

(A) Representative H&E sections and (B) immunofluorescence sections from quadriceps sections. Laminin-α2 staining was used to visualize individual myofibers. Scale bars, 100 μm. (C) Mean distribution of myofiber MFD in quadriceps muscle. 600 myofibers were measured per mouse (n = 3). Error bars represent mean ± SEM. **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. (D) Box-and-whiskers plot of myofiber MFD spread in quadriceps (n = 3). Box represents the interquartile range (IQR), with the middle line representing the 50^th percentile. The lower and upper whisker boundaries represent the 5^th and 95^th percentiles, respectively. ***p < 0.001. (E) Western blot analysis revealed the expected band corresponding to full-length GDF11 (∼45 kDa; black arrows) in tissue homogenates in the AAV9-GDF11 group. GAPDH was used as a loading control.