Figure 1

Notch3^-/- mice exhibit left ventricular hypertrophy. (A) The size of the hearts in control (Notch3^+/+) and Notch3^-/- mice. (B) Heart/body weight ratio (%) in control and Notch3^-/- mice. (C) Heart weight/tibia length ratio (g/cm) in control and Notch3^-/- mice. (D) Sections from septum, papillary muscles and left ventricular wall (LV wall) from control and Notch3^-/- mice. Size bars: cross section, 200μm; septum and papillary muscle = 200 μm; LV wall = 50 μm. Quantification of the length of the cross section of the left ventricular wall. N = 3 animals per genotype were analysed and a minimum of 4 fields of image per mouse were used for quantification. (E) Nppb mRNA expression from n = 3 control and n = 3 Notch3^-/- hearts. (F) Analysis of fibrosis in cross-sections of left ventricle from control and Notch3^-/- mice; solid arrows indicate perivascular fibrosis and dotted arrows denote interstitial fibrosis. Size bar = 20 μm. Quantification of cardiac fibrosis is presented to the right. N = 4 animals per genotype were used. (G) Analysis of the weight of lungs from n = 6 control and n = 6 Notch3^-/- mice. The mice used for these experiments were 10–14 months old. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001, ns = non-significant.