Figure 5: Md2 knockout reduces myocardial injury in HFD.

Wild-type (B6) and Md2^−/− (KO) mice were fed a HFD for 4 months, and blood and heart tissue collected for evaluation of myocardial inflammatory injury. (a) Levels of FFA in 20mg heart tissue of each mouse fed a control (Ctrol) diet or HFD; FFA reported as mean ± s.e.m. and analysed by Student’s t-test, **P<0.01 compared with Ctrol diet; n=8). (b,c) Serum markers of cell injury indicated by CK-MB and LDH (n=8). (d) Upper panel shows representative micrographs of heart tissue stained with hematoxylin and eosin; lower panel shows histochemical staining for connective tissue using Masson’s trichrome; n=4; scale bars, 100 μm. (e) Quantification of fibrosis indicated by trichrome staining, n=3. (f–j) RT–qPCR determination of inflammatory genes and adhesion molecules in heart tissue (n=4). Figure showing TNF-α (f), IL-6 (g), IL-1β (h), ICAM-1 (i) and VCAM-1 (j). mRNA was normalized to housekeeping gene β-actin, and reported relative to B6-Con. (k) Representative immunohistochemical analysis of TNF-α and CD68 (immunoreactivity=brown); n=4; scale bars, 100 μm. Data in b,c and e–j are reported as mean±s.e.m. and analysed by Student’s t-test; *P<0.05, **P<0.01, B6-HFD group compared with control (Con) or KO groups; NS, not significant.