Figure 6.

Intramyocardial injection of miR-21-5p decreased apoptosis in CMECs, increased angiogenesis, reduced infarct size and improved cardiac function. A: TUNEL staining revealed that the density of apoptotic endothelial cells (vWF⁺) in the miR-21-5p-treated myocardium was significantly lower than that in the scramble control group. n = 5. B: Immunohistochemical staining for vWF⁺ showed that blood vessel density in the infarct zone and border zone of the miR-21-5p group was significantly higher than those in the scramble control group. n = 5, 4, and 5 for the sham, scramble and miR-21-5p groups. C: The infarct size of the miR-21-5p group was significantly smaller than that of the scramble control group. n = 6 and 6 for the scramble and miR-21-5p groups. D: Echocardiography revealed that intramyocardial injection of miR-21-5p significantly increased the (a) ejection fraction and (b) fractional shortening and significantly decreased the final (c) systolic diameter, but not (d) diastolic diameter compared with those in the scramble control group. n = 5, 5, 6 for sham-, scramble- miR-21-5p-group. *: p < 0.05, **: p < 0.01.