WD and VC did not cause apparent cardiac fibrosis but increase the expression of some profibrotic cytokines. (A) Cardiac fibrosis, determined by Sirius Red staining of collagen accumulation (collagen is red; 200×, scale bar = 100 μm), and (B) quantitative analysis of Sirius Red staining for collagen accumulation. (C) mRNA expression of CTGF and FN was determined by RT-qPCR. Protein expression of (D) CTGF and Fibronectin, (E) PAI-1 and TGF-β1 were determined by Western blot. ∗, versus LFD group, P < 0.05; $, versus LFD+VC group, P < 0.05.