Figure 3: Reduced infarct severity coincides with less fibrosis.

(a) Percentage of AAV9-empty or AAV9-Tert mice that died during or shortly after PET scan. n, number of mice. Statistical analysis: χ²-test, P-value is depicted. (b) Infarct severity in AAV9-Tert and AAV9-empty cohorts was assessed in in vivo FDG-PET scans 4 weeks after LAD ligation. A higher number of hearts with signal loss was found in the AAV9-empty group. (c) Representative PET scan images of a fully functional heart (left) and failing hearts after MI (right). (d) Representative Masson’s trichrome stainings of transverse heart sections of a healthy heart (left) and LAD ligated hearts with infarct scar (right). Fibrotic infarct areas stain in blue and infarct remote in red as indicated. Scale bar, 1mm. (e) Average scar length relative to the LV endocardial circumference of indicated groups shown as mean with s.e.m. (f) Interstitial fibrotic area relative to total area measured in the infarct remote myocardium shown as mean with s.e.m. n, number of mice. Statistical analysis: two-sided Student’s t-test, P-values are shown.