Figure 4.
Dose‐dependent regression of fibrosis related to advanced age by phenolic compound consumption. Quantification of interstitial fibrosis by Masson's trichrome staining of the left ventricle from SHAM, DMSO, and PC‐treated rats. (a) Collagen accumulation is shown in blue color. The control rat hearts (SHAM and DMSO) show increased interstitial fibrosis compared to the PC rat hearts. (b) Histogram showing percentage of fibrotic area (n = 6–8 per group). (c) TGF‐ß plasma concentrations in all groups (n = 6–8 per group). (d) Representative western blot (left) and histograms analyses (right) for Smad2 and Smad3 (n = 3 for each protein and condition) in rat cardiac tissue, normalized to GAPDH (in arbitrary units, a.u.). *p < 0.05 vs. young and #p < 0.05 vs. SHAM and DMSO. Results are mean ± SEM. PC x = phenolic compounds at x mg kg−1 day−1