Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy as a Result of Mild Hypercaloric Challenge in Absence of Signs of Diabetes: Modulation by Antidiabetic Drugs

Figure 7

Cellular and molecular changes in ventricular tissue in response to HC feeding and the effect of treatment with metformin or pioglitazone. (a) Representative micrographs of histopathological staining, TGF-β immunostaining, and DHE staining of ventricular midsection. Data presented are serial sections obtained from the same tissue and are representative of tissues harvested from four rats in each group. Scale bars are 50 μm. (b) Changes in phosphorylation of Erk1/2 (above) and AMPK (below) in rat ventricles in response to HC feeding and treatment with metformin or pioglitazone. The depicted blots are representative of experiments performed on protein extracts from tissues harvested from four rats in each group. The bar graphs represent comparison of the normalized intensity of the phosphorylated protein bands. denotes versus corresponding values in control rats. Statistical significance was determined by ANOVA followed by Dunnett post hoc test.

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