Fig. 7: The protective effects of FGF21 against HFpEF-induced cardiac diastolic dysfunction and cardiac damage are notably attenuated in APN null mice.
From: FGF21 protects against HFpEF by improving cardiac mitochondrial bioenergetics in mice
A Average systolic blood pressure (SBP, left) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP, right) of Apn KO and WT mice with HFpEF after treatment with AAV-Fgf21 or AAV-GFP, respectively. n = 6 mice per condition. B The body weight of mice mentioned above. n = 6 mice per condition. C Left ventricular diastolic function of Apn KO and WT mice with HFpEF, treated with AAV-Fgf21 or AAV-GFP, respectively. Top, representative pulsed-wave Doppler (top) and tissue Doppler (bottom) tracings of mice. Bottom, quantification of the ratio between the mitral E wave and A wave (E/A), and the mitral E wave and E′ wave (E/E′). n = 6 mice per condition. D The lung weight to tibia length ratio (LW/TL) of mice mentioned above. n = 6 mice per condition. Running distance during exercise exhaustion test (E) and the heart weight to tibia length ratio (HW/TL, F) of mice mentioned above. n = 6 mice per condition. G Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) staining of cardiac sections (left) and cardiomyocyte cross-sectional area quantification (right) in mice mentioned above. Scale bars, 1 mm (H&E), and 50 μm (WGA). n = 50 cardiomyocytes per condition. H The mRNA expression levels of cardiac hypertrophic marker genes (Anp, Bnp, and Myh7) in mice mentioned above. n = 6 mice per condition. I Dihydroethidium (DHE) staining (left) of heart tissues and quantification (right) of the intensity, Scale bars, 100 μm. n = 6 mice per condition. J Sirius red staining of heart tissues (left) and quantification of the fibrotic areas (right). Scale bars, 50 μm. n = 6 mice per condition. K Cardiac contents of fibrotic factors, including fibronectin, collagen I, and α-SMA tested by immunoblot. n = 6 mice per condition. L Cardiac PDK4, p-PDH and PDH contents of mice tested by immunoblot. n = 6 mice per condition. M Cardiac pyruvate dehydrogenase activity in mice mentioned above. n = 6 mice per condition. Cardiac pyruvate (N), acetyl-CoA (O), and ATP (P) contents in mice mentioned above. n = 6 mice per condition. Violin plots in (G) are presented as lines indicating the median and interquartile range; other bar graphs are presented as mean ± SEM. Statistical significance was assessed by two-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s multiple comparison test.
