Fig. 2

Overexpression of Airn protects against diabetes-induced cardiac fibrosis, while Airn knockdown leads to cardiac fibrosis in the normal heart. A Representative images of immunohistochemical staining of collagen I in CTRL and DM hearts by intramyocardially AAV-9 virus injection; Scale bar = 50 μm. B Representative blot images and quantitative analysis of collagen I and α-SMA expression in CTRL and DM hearts by intramyocardially AAV-9 virus injection. C Representative images of Masson’s trichrome staining in CTRL and DM hearts by intramyocardially AAV-9 virus injection; Scale bar = 50 μm. D The quantitative analysis of Masson’s trichrome staining. E, F Ki67 assay by double staining with DAPI (blue) and Ki67 (red) detected proliferative cells in CTRL and DM hearts by intramyocardially AAV-9 virus injection; The quantification of Ki67-positive cells is shown; Scale bar = 50 μm. G, H Representative images of immunofluorescence staining for α-SMA (red) and DAPI (blue) and quantification of the relative cell area of CFs in CTRL and DM hearts by intramyocardially AAV-9 virus injection; Scale bar = 50 μm. Data are presented as means ± SEM. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. n = 6 mice