FIGURE 3.

Autophagy agonist supplementation improves Ang II‐induced PCH in WT mice more than Bmi‐1 ^–/– mice. Autophagy agonist metformin (as a water supplement, 1 mg/ml) or rapamycin intraperitoneal injection, 2 mg/kg/day), was administered to 4‐week‐old WT and Bmi‐1^–/– mice that were treated with Ang II (1.3 mg/kg/day) for 4 weeks. (A) Colour Doppler echocardiography for 8‐week‐old mice. (B) Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). (C) Left ventricular shortened fraction (LVFS). (D) The heart weight‐to‐body weight (HW/BW) and heart weight‐to‐tibia length (HW/TL) ratios were calculated. Representative micrographs of paraffin‐embedded heart ventricular wall sections for (E–G) haematoxylin‐eosin (H&E), wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) and Masson's trichrome (Masson) staining. (H) The wall thickness of interventricular septum. (I) Myocyte cross‐sectional area is relative to WT mice. (J) Collagenous fibre area. Six mice per group were used for experiments. Statistical analysis was performed with one‐way ANOVA for pairwise comparisons; values are mean ± SEM from six determinations per group, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001 compared to WT group with the same treatment; ^# p < .05, ^## p < .01, ^### p < .001 compared to control group with the same genotype; ^& p < .05, ^&& p < .01 compared to Ang II‐treated group with the same genotype