Figure 6.

Macrophage‐specific deletion of high mobility group B1 (HMGB1) does not modify cardiac fibrogenesis after transverse aortic constriction (TAC). Representative pictures of picrosirius red staining of HMGB1^Flox mice and HMGB1^ΔMac of heart section and quantification of positive pixels per heart section. Scale bar: 500 μm (A). Representative pictures of immunohistochemical staining with an antibody against α‐smooth muscle actin (α‐SMA) and quantification of positive pixels per heart section. Scale bar: 500 μm (B). Heart extracts from HMGB1^Flox mice and HMGB1^ΔMac were analyzed by western blotting directed against α‐SMA (C). Heart mRNA expression levels of classical fibrosis markers were detected using real‐time RT‐PCR, the dotted line indicates the baseline (D). Statistical analysis was performed with Mann‐Whitney test. Data are expressed as means ± SEM. n = 3 in HMGB1^Flox‐sham group; n = 3 in HMGB1^ΔMac‐sham group; n = 8 in HMGB1^Flox‐TAC group; n = 11 in HMGB1^ΔMac‐TAC group. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 vs sham/TAC