Table 1.
Characteristics of Primers and Amplicons.
Figure 1.
Metabolic features of normal and obese mice.
(A) Representative glucose tolerance curves at eight and 16 months of normal and obese mice. (B) The area under the curve (AUC) of glucose tolerance test was calculated for each animal using the trapezoidal rule. n = 10. Mean ± SEM, p<0.0001 vs. normal mice (Student test).
Table 2.
Biochemical Markers Related to Metabolic Syndrome.
Figure 2.
Blood pressure parameters of normal and obese mice.
(A) Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was determined with sphygmomanometer (non-invasive determination) up to 12 months. (B) Mean arterial pressure was determined with cardiac catheterization (invasive determination) at eight and 16 months. n = 5–6. Mean ± SEM.
Figure 3.
Vascular reactivity of normal and obese mice.
The aortic ring of normal and obese mice was exposed to different vasoactive agents at 16 months. (A) Vasoconstriction by norepinephrine. (B) Vasorelaxation by acetylcoline. (C) Vasorelaxation by sodium nitroprusside. n = 4. Mean ± SEM, p<0.05 vs. normal mice (Two-way ANOVA test).
Figure 4.
Cardiac function under basal and stress conditions of normal and obese mice.
(A) Fractional shortening (FS%) was monitored by echocardiography under basal conditions at eight, 12 and 16 months. (B) Cardiac catheterization under basal and stress conditions was performed in order to obtained maximal positive pressure development (dP/dtmax), maximal negative pressure development (dP/dtmin). n = 5–7. Mean ± SEM, *: p<0.05, **: p<0.01 vs. normal mice (Two-way ANOVA test).
Figure 5.
Light microscopy features of cardiac structure of normal and obese mice.
Transversal heart sections were stained with haematoxylin/eosin (H&E) in order to measure the mean cross-sectional area of cardiomyocyte. Capillary density was determined using IsoLectinB4 that specifically detects endothelial cells. Images are representative of six animals per group. Scale bars = 50 um.
Figure 6.
Collagen type I and collagen type III content in myocardium of normal and obese mice.
(A and C) Representative immunoblots at eight and 16 months. Tubulin was detected as a loading control. (B and D) Densitometric measurements (arbitrary units). n = 7–8. p<0.05 vs. normal mice (Student test). COL I: collagen type I, COL III: collagen type III.
Table 3.
Cardiac Structure.
Table 4.
Cardiac Gene Expression.