Figure 7
Fibrosis measured by Masson’s Trichrome (MT) staining in hearts obtained from 14-month old mice. Two weeks after osmotic pump implantation surgery, hearts were formalin-fixed, routinely processed, paraffin embedded, and cut into 6-µm sections, and individually stained MT. Ten non-overlapping photomicrographs were taken for each mouse and then randomized before analysis. MT-positive quantification was performed via color based thresholding assisted by ImageJ (NIH) to determine the percentage of MT positive tissue indicative of fibrosis (% positive index). Values are mean + SE. *p < 0.05 using Welch two-sided t-test comparing saline to Ang II by each sex and either corn oil or TCDD. #p < 0.05 using Welch two-sided t-test comparing TCDD to corn oil by each sex and either saline or Ang II. Corn oil + Ang II: n = 6 females, 7 males; Corn oil + saline: n = 4 females, 4 males; TCDD + Ang II: n = 7 females, 7 males; TCDD + saline: n = 6 females, 7 males.
