Fig. 4.

Attenuation of myocardial dysfunction by TLR4 siRNA. Diabetic mice were made and treated with TLR4 siRNA as described. Four experimental groups included the untreated mice (sham), diabetic mice (STZ), and the mice treated with scrambled siRNA or TLR4 siRNA. a Echocardiography. Eight weeks after treatment, the hearts were imaged by a cardiovascular ultrasound system. M-mode and 2-D parasternal short-axis scans at the levels of the papillary muscles were used to assess changes in left ventricle fractional shortening (FS) (b) and ejection fraction (EF) (c). d, e The left ventricle volumes at diastolic or systolic phase were much smaller in TLR4 siRNA-treated mice than in STZ-treated or scrambled siRNA-treated mice. Data shown are representative of three experiments. ^#Statistical significance when compared with scrambled siRNA-treated mice, or *with untreated mice (sham) with STZ-induced diabetic mice was denoted as p < 0.05