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. 2020 Jul 30;21(15):5450. doi: 10.3390/ijms21155450

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Sexual interaction reduces pleural effusion and edema development in male mice with dilated cardiomyopathy. (A) Representative cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images of DCM mice without access to sexual interactions (DCM-S (132 days) vs. DCM+S (148 days): presence of pleural effusion (PE, white arrow, panel a) in DCM-S compared to the normal lung pattern (black) in DCM+S (panel b). (B) Pleural effusions (PE) prevalence; bars represent percent affected mice. PE was not detected in any control mice without DCM. (C) Lung weight to body weight ratio (LW/BW). (B,C) Groups were male dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) mice with sexual activity (DCM+S) vs. without sexual activity (DCM-S) on normal (ND) or breeding diet (BD) as measured at 20 weeks of age (Stage D heart failure). The number of DCM mice per group is shown and the value for control mice without DCM is indicated by dashed line (n = 7–13). Data are mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM); * p < 0.05, ns = non-significant.