Fig. 1
Collagen deposition and TGF-β1 expression are higher in SHR than WKY rat cardiac tissue. a Representative images of Masson’s trichrome staining, TGF-β1 immunostaining and relative secondary antibody negative control, on normotensive (WKY) and hypertensive (SHR) rat heart tissue samples. Quantification of collagen fibres (b blue signal in Masson’s trichrome staining) and TGF-β1 posive areas (c brown signal in immunohistochemistry) in WKY (white bars) and SHR (red bars) left ventricle samples. All histological quantifications are expressed as mean ± SD, n = 5/group. Scale bars = 100 μm. d TGF-β1 expression levels in WKY and SHR heart tissue protein extracts. Western blot quantification data are expressed as mean ± SD after β-tubulin normalization, n = 5/group. Student’s t-test: *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.0001