Figure 3. Eprs Postn-Cre-driven conditional knockout reduces cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis in the TAC surgery model.
(A) Schematic of the experimental procedure for TAC surgery in tamoxifen (TMX)-induced Postn-Cre-driven Eprs conditional knockout (cKO, tm1d) and Eprsflox/+ mice (Control, tm1c) using a preventive model.
(B) HW/TL ratios suggest attenuated hypertrophy in Eprs cKO mice (n=7) after TAC surgery compared to Control mice (n=6).
(C) Picrosirius red staining indicates reduced cardiac fibrosis in Eprs cKO mice (n=7) compared to Control mice (n=6) after TAC surgery. Scale bar: 2 mm.
(D) WGA staining of heart tissue sections in Control and Eprs cKO mice with TAC surgery. n=4 hearts in Control group and n=5 in cKO group with >1000 CMs measured per heart. Scale bar: 50 μm.
(E) MHC-α protein expression in heart tissues of Control and Eprs cKO mice with TAC surgery. n=3 hearts per group with >400 CMs measured per heart. Scale bar: 50 μm.
(F) Schematic of the experimental procedure for TAC surgery in Eprs cKO and control mice using a reversal model.
(G) HW/TL ratios in Eprs cKO and Control mice after TAC surgery. n=3/ 5/ 4/ 6 for Control Sham/ Control TAC/ cKO Sham/ cKO TAC, respectively.
(H) Picrosirius red staining indicates reduced cardiac fibrosis in Eprs cKO mice compared to control mice after TAC surgery. n=3/ 5/ 4/ 6 for Control Sham/ Control TAC/ cKO Sham/ cKO TAC, respectively. Scale bar: 2 mm.
(I) Fractional shortening (FS) and ejection fraction (EF) are partially recovered in Eprs+/– mice in a TAC surgery-induced mouse HF model. n=3/ 5/ 4/ 6 for Control Sham/ Control TAC/ cKO Sham/ cKO TAC, respectively.
Comparisons were performed by non-parametric unpaired Mann-Whitney test for B-E, and non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test with Conover-Iman method for post hoc pairwise comparisons and Benjamini-Hochberg correction for G, H, I.