Fig. 6: Analysis of arteriole presence post-treatment.

a Immunofluorescence staining for alpha smooth muscle actin (red) and nuclei (blue) was performed to identify arterioles. Scale bars = 50 μm. b–d Three tissue sections (apex, middle, and end of the heart) were quantified for arteriole number in the infarct, border zone, and remote zone. In cases where there was not an identifiable remote zone for a given section in a particular animal, that section was excluded from data analysis for the remote zone of that animal. Trends indicate increased number of arterioles in both microrod groups compared to free decorin (n = 4 for all groups). The mean is denoted by a “+” sign and the black whiskers represent the min and max values for each dataset. *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001.