Proteomics Analysis of Myocardial Tissues in a Mouse Model of Coronary Microembolization

FIGURE 1. Cardiac function detection by echocardiography. (A) Representative M-mode echocardiograms. Group data for (B) left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), (C) fractional shortening (FS), (D) left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), and (E) left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVEDS). ∗∗P < 0.01; n = 12 per group.

FIGURE 2. Histological analysis of the hearts from three groups. (A) Representative HE-staining micrographs to visualize myocytes arrangement. (B) Cardiac sections were stained with Masson to visualize collagen deposition around the microspheres. (C) The quantitative analysis of collagen contents (%). (D) Immunohistochemical staining of F4/80 to reflect macrophage infiltration. (E) Integrated optical density (IOD) of F4/80 in cardiac tissues. n = 6 per group. Scale bars = 50 μm. Black arrows indicated the microspheres. ∗∗P < 0.01.

FIGURE 3. Proteomics analysis of the differentially expressed proteins. (A) Numbers of upregulated and downregulated proteins in CME mice. (B) Heatmap of the expression levels of the 249 differentially expressed proteins, red and green reflected high and low expression levels, respectively.

FIGURE 4. GO enrichment and pathway analysis of the 249 differentially expressed proteins. (A) Bar chart depicting the GO classification of the differentially expressed proteins in terms of biological process, cellular component, and molecular function. (B) Top 15 KEGG pathways enriched by the differentially expressed proteins. (C) Classification of the enriched KEGG pathways.

FIGURE 5. PPI networks. (A) PPI analysis of the metabolism related pathways, including carbon metabolism, oxidative phosphorylation, and citrate cycle (B) PPI analysis of the cytoskeleton organization process.

FIGURE 6. Validation of the proteomics results by qPCR and Western blotting. (A) Results of qPCR for the mRNA levels of SDHA, SDHB, RhoGDIα, and FLNA. (B) Results of Western blotting for SDHA, SDHB, RhoGDIα, and FLNA. (C) Densitometric analysis of relative protein expressions, GAPDH was used as internal control. n = 4 per group. ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗P < 0.01.