Gene expression of biomarkers of injury and immunostaining of TLR4 in patient auricles.

<p>(A-D) TLR4 and NOX4 are activated resulting in elevated TNF-α in the auricles. Auricles obtained during CABG surgery presented higher expression of TLR4 (P<0.03), BNP (P<0.05), NOX4 (P<0.03), and TNF-α (P = 0.135) in reduced versus ‘preserved EF’. (E) TLR2 expression was similar in both groups. (F1-F2) Representative photographs show double-immunostaining of Troponin I and TLR4 in ‘preserved EF’ auricle. (F3-F4) Representative photographs show double-immunostaining of troponin I and TLR4 in the ‘reduced EF’ auricle. TLR4 staining revealed an apparent upregulation in all ‘reduced EF’ patients examined compared to ‘preserved EF’ patients' tissue.</p

Baseline characteristics of the study population (A) and medication (B).

<p>Baseline characteristics of the study population (A) and medication (B).</p

miR expression.

<p>A. miR320a expression in the serum of patients undergoing CABG surgery, with reduced EF was higher than preserved EF, * P <0.001. B. The miR15a, is presented in Fig B and noted as unchanged.</p

Dot plot and histograms representing TLR4 and TLR2 levels in monocytes.

<p>(A1-A3) Monocytes/lymphocyte cell population after CD14-positive cell staining. (B-C) Shift to the right demonstrating an increase in the amount of TLR4 staining in the monocytes. Specific mean fluorescence (MFI) can be quantified from these histograms for each case. (D) TLR4 levels on the population of monocytes as measured using relative mean fluorescence intensity (rMFI). (C) ‘reduced EF‘ patients (EF<45%) and ‘preserved EF‘ patients (EF>55%). (E) TLR2 levels on the population of monocytes as measured using rMFI. FACS analysis,* P<0.03 patient with ‘reduced EF’ TLR4 was higher than that of patients with ‘preserved EF’.</p

Biomarkers in the plasma and white blood cells count.

<p>Protein expression of different stress biomarkers in patients before CABG surgery: ‘reduced EF’ and ‘preserved EF’ patients. (A) CRP, p = 0.038, (B) NT Pro-BNP, *P<0.0001, (C) LDH, p = 0.497 reduced versus ‘preserved EF’, (D) WBC/Monocyte/Neutrophils count of the 2 groups, no statistical difference was observed.</p

Comparison of a 12-month post-surgical follow up to the baseline data.

<p>Legend for <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0120175#pone.0120175.t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a>:</p><p>*P = 0.03 vs baseline</p><p>Comparison of a 12-month post-surgical follow up to the baseline data.</p