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. 2021 Jun 4;118(6):1520–1534. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvab188

Figure 1.

Figure 1

PGC-1α knockout causes sex-specific gradual cardiac dilatation and contractile suppression. (A) PGC-1α western blot from ventricular tissue of male and female Heart-PGC-1α KO and control mice. (B) Survival of male and female KO and control mice during a 250-day follow-up period (male Ctrl n = 5, male KO n = 5, female Ctrl n = 10, female KO n = 8). (C) Ejection fraction (EF), systolic left ventricular volume (LVvol; s), and systolic left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPW; s) of male and female KO mice shown as relative to average value in age-matched littermate controls at the ages of 10, 12, and 16 weeks (n = 8). (D) Parameters from echocardiography of 16-week-old male and female KO and control mice. CO, cardiac output; d, diastole; EF(%), ejection fraction shown as percentage; HR, heart rate; LVAW, left ventricular anterior wall thickness; LVPW, left ventricular posterior wall thickness; LVvol, left ventricular volume; s, systole (n = 8). (E) Heart weight to tibial bone length ratio (upper) (males n = 8, females n = 6) at the age of 16 weeks and cell capacitance at the age of 18 weeks [lower panel; male Ctrl n = 11/69 (animals/cells), male KO n = 10/53, female Ctrl n = 8/47, and female KO n = 8/43]. (F) Representative haematoxylin–eosin stained cross-sections of 21-week-old male and female mice hearts (scale bar 1 mm). (G) Ventricle wall thickness, inner perimeter derived diameter, and relative wall thickness of left ventricles measured from the histological sections (n = 9) of 21-week-old mice. (H) Ventricular expression of heart failure marker genes at the ages of 18 (n = 8) and 22 (n = 5) weeks (refer to Supplementary material online, Table S1 for gene abbreviations). Statistical significance from hierarchical linear model (E) and ANOVA Bonferroni post hoc test (B–D, G, and H); *P < 0.05, ¤P < 0.01, #P < 0.001.