Fig. 1

SAC alleviates EndoMT-associated fibrotic response. a Masson staining and immunofluorescent double-staining of CD31 (Red) and α-SMA (Green) of cardiac sections (white dotted line was applied to delineate the inner surface of blood vessel) from sham-operated, TAC-operated and SAC-treated mice and the calculated fibrotic area, scale bar, upper panel: 50 μm, lower panel: 20 μm (n = 6). b Masson staining and immunofluorescent double-staining of CD31 (Red) and α-SMA (Green) of cardiac sections from vehicle, isoprenaline and SAC-treated mice and the calculated fibrotic area, scale bar, upper panel: 50 μm, lower panel: 20 μm (n = 6). c Immunoblot analysis of CD31 and α-SMA expression in endothelial cells (ECs) treated with vehicle, TGF-β1 and SAC. α-Tubulin was used as the loading control (n = 3). d Immunofluorescent staining of α-SMA in ECs treated with vehicle, TGF-β1 and SAC, scale bar, 20 μm (n = 3). e-h q-PCR analysis of Acta2, Edn1, Col1a1, and Postn mRNA level in ECs treated with vehicle, TGF-β1 and SAC. 18s RNA was used as the internal reference (n = 3). i Representative images and the calculated gel diameter in gel pad contraction assay of ECs treated with vehicle, TGF-β1 and SAC, scale bar, 5 mm (n = 3). Data are represented as mean ± SD. ^###p < 0.001 versus control group. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, N.S., nonsignificant versus model group