Fig. 4.

Cardiac-specific STAT3 deficiency abolishes infarct-limiting effect of rapamycin (RAPA) against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in diabetic mice. a STAT3-deficient (MCM TG:STAT3flox/flox) and WT (MCM NTG:STAT3flox/flox) male mice (8–10 weeks) were fed high fat diet (HFD) for 16 weeks, after which they received tamoxifen (20 mg/kg/day i.p.) for 10 days. Representative immunoblots of STAT3 and GAPDH in hearts of HFD-fed and tamoxifen treated STAT3-deficient and WT mice. Densitometric analysis representing fold change in STAT3/GAPDH ratio. b Myocardial infarct sizes of WT and STAT3-deficient mice following global I/R as well as infusion of rapamycin (RAPA, 100 nM) or DMSO (solvent of rapamycin) at reperfusion. c Product of heart rate and ventricular developed force (% of pre-ischemic baseline). d Coronary flow rate (% of pre-ischemic coronary flow)