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. 2018 Jun 7;3(11):e120137. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.120137

Figure 1. Effect of pirfenidone on mortality and cardiac myocyte cell death after DT treatment.

Figure 1

Mice expressing the diphtheria toxin receptor (DTR) in the myocardium were exposed to diphtheria toxin (DT) and fed either chow enriched with pirfenidone (DTR-PFD) or regular chow (DTR-control). (A) Kaplan-Meier survival curves of DTR control and DTR-PFD mice (n = 20 per group). (B) Serum troponin levels measured at day 4 after DT treatment in DTR-PFD and DTR-control animals (n = 23/group). (C) Cardiac myocyte apoptosis measured at day 4 after treatment with DT. Upper panels are representative histological sections of myocardium from DTR-control and DTR-PFD mice at ×40 magnification. Lower panel summarizes the group data (n = 6 mice/group, 4 sections per animal analyzed). (D) Evans blue (EB) dye uptake at day 4 after DT treatment in DTR-control and DTR-PFD animals; upper panels are representative fluorescence microscopy images at ×10 magnification; lower panel summarizes the group data (n = 5 control; n = 6 mice with pirfenidone; 4 sections per animal analyzed). Bars represent the mean, and error bars represent standard deviation. P values were calculated with the Gehan-Breslow-Wilcoxon method for panel A and with Student’s t test for panels B–D.