Fig. 5.

Cardiac fibrosis and apoptosis in mice treated with saline solution (Sham), EMPA 10 mg/kg/day, DOXO 2.17 mg/kg/day or EMPA associated to DOXO (n = 6 for each group). A representative images of the interstitial fibrosis (collagen content, indicative of the fibrosis) in cardiac tissue. B cardiac collagen quantification (% of collagen of area) in heart tissue. C Heart pro-collagen 1-α1 quantification in cardiac tissue (ng/mg of total protein); D MMP-9 content ( pg/mg of protein) in cardiac tissue, indicative of fibrosis. E apoptosis imaging in cardiac tissue ( in green, apoptotic nuclei). F apoptotic nuclei, expressed as relative percentage of positive nuclei in heart tissue (two-way ANOVA with a Bonferroni post hoc test). G Caspase-3 expression in cardiac tissue (expressed as ng of Caspase-3/g of tissue). H SGLT-2 protein expression in cardiac and renal tissues of C57B/6 mice through western blot analysis. I Real Time -PCR analysis indicating the relative mRNA expression of SGLT-2 in cardiac and renal tissues of C57B/6 mice. Values are expressed ± SD. *** P < 0.001; **P < 0.01; * P < 0.05; ns: not significant