Effects of Captopril and Losartan on Cardiac Stereology in Rats with Renovascular Hypertension.

Figures

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  Figure 1. The micrographs demonstrate the summary of the stereological techniques employed in the present study. A. The volume of the heart was measured via the immersion method. B. Isotropic uniform random sections of the heart according to the oriented method were obtained by placing the heart on an equally-divided circle and sectioning it into two parts in a random direction (here 8). C and D. The parts of the heart were sectioned in new random directions (here 1 and 4) after being placed on the cosine-weighted divided circle. E. The slabs were collected. F. A circle was punched out. G. The slabs and the circle were embedded in a block, and were cut with a microtome. H. A stained section is illustrated on one microscopic slide. I. The point-counting method was used to estimate the volume density of the favored structures (myocardium, matrix, and vessels) on the PAS staining sections. J and K. The dissector method was utilized to estimate the numerical density of the nuclei of the cardiomyocytes. The arrowheads indicate the nuclei, which have not appeared in the reference section but can be observed in the look-up section and follow the unbiased counting rules.

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  Figure 2. The systolic blood pressures of all the groups after four weeks of treatment are indicated in this figure. The bars represent mean±SD (n=8 per each group). Comparisons were made using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by the least significant difference test. *Indicates a significant (P≤0.05) difference from the Sham-V group; ΔIndicates a significant difference (P≤0.05) from the RAC-V group; Sham-V: Sham-operated group receiving the vehicle (distilled water); RAC-V: Renal artery-clipped group receiving the vehicle; RAC-C50 and RAC-C100, Renal artery-clipped groups receiving captopril at 50 and 100 mg/kg/day, respectively; RAC-L25 and RAC-L50: Renal artery-clipped groups receiving losartan at 25 and 50 mg/kg/day, respectively

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  Figure 3. The figure indicates (A) the body, (B) heart weights of all the groups after four weeks of treatment. The bars represent the mean±SD (n=8 per each group). Comparisons were made using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by the least significant difference test. *Indicates a significant (P≤0.05) difference from the Sham-V group; ΔIndicates a significant (P≤0.05) difference from the RAC-V group; οIndicates a significant difference from the RAC-C50 group; Sham-V: Sham-operated group receiving the vehicle (distilled water); RAC-V: Renal artery-clipped group receiving the vehicle; RAC-C50 and RAC-C100: Renal artery-clipped groups receiving captopril at 50 and 100 mg/kg/day, respectively; RAC-L25 and RAC-L50: Renal artery-clipped groups receiving losartan at 25 and 50 mg/kg/day, respectively

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  Figure 4. The total volume of the heart (A), myocardium (B), endocardium (C), matrix (D), and myocardial vessels (E) of all the groups are indicated after four weeks of treatment. The bars represent the mean±SD (n=8 per each group). Comparisons were made using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by the least significant difference test. *Indicates a significant (P≤0.05) difference from the Sham-V group; ΔIndicates a significant (P≤0.05) difference from the RAC-V group; οIndicates a significant (P≤0.05) difference from the RAC-C50 and RAC-C100 groups; Sham-V: Sham-operated group receiving the vehicle (distilled water); RAC-V: Renal artery-clipped group receiving the vehicle; RAC-C50 and RAC-C100: Renal artery-clipped groups receiving captopril at 50 and 100 mg/kg/day, respectively; RAC-L25 and RAC-L50: Renal artery-clipped groups receiving losartan at 25 and 50 mg/kg/day, respectively

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  Figure 5. The numbers of cardiomyocytes (A) and Purkinje cells (B) are indicated in the hearts of all the groups after four weeks of treatment. The bars represent the mean±SD (n=8 per each group). Comparisons were made using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by the least significant difference test. *Indicates a significant difference from the Sham-V group; ΔIndicates a significant difference from the RAC-V group; Sham-V: Sham-operated group receiving the vehicle (distilled water); RAC-V: Renal artery-clipped group receiving the vehicle; RAC-C50 and RAC-C100: Renal artery-clipped groups receiving captopril at 50 and 100 mg/kg/day, respectively; RAC-L25 and RAC-L50: Renal artery-clipped groups receiving losartan at 25 and 50 mg/kg/day, respectively