The Role of the Rho/ROCK Pathway in Ang II and TGF-β1-Induced Atrial Remodeling - Fig 2

<p>The upper panel depicts mRNA expression levels of TGF-β1 (A), CTGF (B), collagen-I (C), RhoA (D) and ROCK-1 (E) in the canine left atrium following 4 weeks of RAP. The middle panel depicts the protein expression levels of TGF-β1 (F), CTGF (G), collagen I (H) and ROCK-1 (I) in the canine left atrium following 4 weeks of RAP. The lower panel depicts the immunohistochemical results pertaining to collagen-I (J), CTGF (K) and ROCK-1 (L) in the hearts (×400). C, control group; P, pacing group. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 vs group C. (n = 6 for Group C, n = 9 for Group P).</p

Representative HE staining (up panel) and Masson’s trichrome staining (down panel) of the atrial myocardium.

<p>(A) Structurally normal atrial myocardium in the control group and severe fibrosis in the pacing group (×100). (B) Atrial myocardium with HE staining under ×400 light microscopy. (C) A small amount of collagen is visible within the atrial myocardium of the control group, and an increased amount of collagen is visible within the atrial myocardium following pacing (×100). The red areas represent myocytes, and the blue areas represent collagen. (D) Atrial myocardium with Masson’s trichrome staining under ×400 light microscopy. C, control group; P, pacing group. (n = 6 for Group C, n = 9 for Group P).</p

The changes in ERPA, ERPAV, CSNRT and AVN-Wen (x±s).

<p>The changes in ERPA, ERPAV, CSNRT and AVN-Wen (x±s).</p

The changes in echocardiographic indices before and after rapid atrial pacing (mm, x±s).

<p>The changes in echocardiographic indices before and after rapid atrial pacing (mm, x±s).</p

The effect of TGF-β1 on the Smad signal pathway.

<p>(A) TGF-β1 upregulated the expression of Smad2/3. (B) Sim and Losinhibited the protein expression of Smad2/3 in the atrial CFs treated with TGF-β1. (C) The ratio of GTP-RhoA/total RhoA following different treatments. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 vs TGF-β1 group, #<i>P</i><0.05, ##<i>P</i><0.01 vs Y27632+TGF-β1 group. (n = 5 for each group).</p

Comparison of hydroxyproline expression between the two groups.

<p>LA, left atrium; RA, right atrium; LV, left ventricle; RV, right ventricle. *P<0.05, **P<0.01. (n = 6 for Group C, n = 9 for Group P).</p

The effect of the Ang II pathway on atrial CF proliferation (upper panel) and the effect of Ang II on the mRNA expression of the AF factors in the atrial CFs (lower panel).

<p>(A) The effects of different concentrations of Ang II on the proliferation of the atrial CFs. (B, C, D) The effects of different concentration of Los (B), Sim (C) and Y27632 (D) on Ang II induced cell proliferation. Ang II upregulated the expression of ROCK-1 (E), CTGF (F) and TGF-β1 (G). Sim, Los and Y27632 downregulated the Ang II induced expression of TGF-β1 (J), CTGF (I) and ROCK-1 (H). *P<0.05, **P<0.01 vs Group C, #<i>P</i><0.05, ##<i>P</i><0.01 vs Group Ang II.(n = 5 for each group).</p