Testosterone deficiency reduces the effects of late cardiac remodeling after acute myocardial infarction in rats

Fig 1. Changes in body weight of animals over time (Week). Data represented as mean ± SEM. For statistical analysis, two-way ANOVA was used for repeated measurements followed by Tukey post hoc. * p <0.05 versus Sham; # p <0.05 versus OCT; + p <0.05 versus OCT+MI.

Fig 2. Histological evaluation in rat hearts. Myocyte cross-sectional area and representative images of the histological blades stained with HE (A) and percentage of interstitial collagen in the LV and representative images of the histological sections stained with Picrosirius red (B) from Sham, OCT, MI and OCT+MI. Objective: 40X. Scale bar: 200 μm. N = 10 animals per group. Data expressed as mean ± SEM. Statistical analysis: Two-way ANOVA followed by a Tukey post hoc test. * p < 0.05 vs Sham, # p < 0.05 vs OCT and §p < 0.05 vs MI.

Fig 3. Contractility analyses. Isometric force (g / g) in the LV papillary muscles measure with 1.25 mM of calcium (3A), Activation Time (ms) (3B), Relaxation Time: TR50 (ms) (3C), maximum rate of force development (+dF/dt max, g/ms) in the LV papillary muscles (3D) and minimum rate of force development (-dF/dt g/ms) in the LV papillary muscles (3E). Groups: Sham (N = 4), OCT (N = 4), MI (N = 4) and OCT + MI groups (N = 4). Data expressed as mean ± SEM. The statistical analysis used was Two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc. * p < 0.05 vs Sham, # p < 0.05 vs OCT; + p < 0.05 versus OCT + MI.

Fig 4. Contractility in response to isoproterenol 10−4 M. Isometric force (g/g) in LV papillary muscles (4A), maximum rate of force development (+dF/dt max) (4B) and minimum rate of force development (-dF/dt min) (4C). Groups: Sham (N = 4), OCT (N = 4), MI (N = 4) and OCT+MI (N = 4) groups. Data expressed as mean ± SEM. Statistical analysis: Two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc. * p < 0.05 vs Sham; # p < 0.05 vs OCT.

Fig 5. Activation Time (ms) (A) and Relaxation Time: RT50 (ms) (B) kinetic in LV papillary muscles in the presence of isoproterenol at concentrations 10−7 to 10−2 M. Sham (N = 6), OCT (N = 9), MI (N = 4) and OCT+MI (N = 4). Data expressed as mean ± SEM. Statistical analysis: 2-way ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc. * p < 0.05 vs Sham; # p < 0.05 vs OCT; + p <0.05 versus OCT+MI.

Fig 6. Scanning electron microscopy images of animal hearts. Groups: OCT (A and B) and Sham (C and D) groups. Scale bar: 50 μm.

Fig 7. Scanning electron microscopy images of corrosion casts. Groups: MI (A and B) and OCT+MI groups (C and D). Arrows indicate places of abrupt narrowing of blood vessels. Scale bar: 50 μm.

Fig 8. Vascular density index. Groups: Sham (N = 20), OCT (N = 20), MI N = 20) and OCT+MI groups (N = 20). Data expressed as mean ± SEM. The statistical analysis used was Two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc. * p < 0.05 vs Sham, # p < 0.05 vs OCT. For the analysis 20 photos were used per group.