Fig. 3. Increased CHOP expression plays a role in the activation of apoptosis pathway in FDC hearts.

a The expression of total protein levels of PARP-1 (cleaved), caspase-3 (pro and active), Bim, and BCL-2 were measured by western blot using heart tissue extracts from control hearts, familial hearts from the two patients with the FBXO32 mutation, and from IDC (idiopathic dilated hearts). Depending on the investigated protein, 25–40 μg of whole protein extract was used to perform the western blot analysis. b Quantitative analysis of (a); results are normalized against GAPDH and expressed as average ± s.e.m. FDC familial dilated cardiomyopathy, IDC idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.