Figure 2
Effect of MT on Cu-deficiency–induced apoptosis in the heart detected by a TUNEL assay (A to H). Myocardial tissues obtained from both non–transgenic (A) and transgenic (B) mice fed CuA diet were TUNEL negative. Apoptotic cells (arrows) in myocardial tissues obtained from both non-transgenic (C and E) and transgenic mice (D and F) fed CuD diet for 24 (C and D) or 42 days (E and F) are shown. Immunohistochemical staining for cardiac α-sarcomeric actin in non-transgenic myocardium (G) and dual staining apoptotic cardiomyocytes in CuD non-transgenic myocardium as indicated by the arrow (H). The graph in (I) shows the data were semi-quantified by counting the apoptotic nuclei against normal nuclei. The data were obtained from 3 animals for each treatment and 3 randomly selected fields (total of 1000 nuclei) were counted on each slide from each animal. The mean was obtained from the pooled averaged numbers from the 3 animals. * indicates significantly different from controls. A to F, original magnification ×90; G and H, original magnification ×500.
