Fig. 2

a–f Representative TTC-Evans blue staining (a and d) and measurements of infarct size in WT and Dusp6-deficient hearts at 24 h (b and c) and 72 h (e and f) after MI (n = 6 hearts/group). In the ischemic area, the infarcted region is stained white and viable cardiac tissue is stained red. Non-ischemic heart muscle is stained blue (scale bar, 5 mm). Representative TUNEL staining of WT and Dusp6 mutant hearts in sham-operated, MI 6 h, MI 24 h, and MI 72 h (g), and quantitative analysis (h) of cardiomyocyte (CM) cell death in WT and Dusp6-deficient LV tissue. Immunostaining of cTnT was used to co-stain myocardial tissue (n = 9 areas from 3 sham WT hearts and 9 areas from 3 sham MT hearts, 14 areas from WT hearts and 11 areas from MT hearts at 6 h after MI, 17 areas from WT hearts and 17 areas from MT hearts at 24 h after MI, 12 areas from WT hearts and 9 areas from MT hearts at 72 h after MI; scale bar, 100 μm). i Western blot and corresponding quantitative analysis of BAX and BCL-2 from WT and Dusp6-deficient LV tissue at 72 h after MI (n = 6 biological independent samples/group). Coomassie blue staining was used to normalize protein loading. All blots and stainings were performed in parallel with the same samples. j Masson staining and quantitative analysis of interstitial fibrosis in the infarct border zone of WT and Dusp6-deficient hearts at 7 days after MI (n = 9 areas from WT hearts and 9 areas from MT hearts; scale bar, 100 μm). All quantitative data shown in this figure are presented as mean values ± SD. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test (for h) and Two-sided unpaired T-test (for b, c, e, f, i and j) were used to calculate the presented p-values. Source data of b, c, e, f, h, i and j are provided in a Source Data File. WT wild-type, MT Dusp6 mutant, TTC triphenyl tetrazolium chloride, IR infarcted region, AAR area at risk, LV left ventricle, BZ infarct border zone, cTnT cardiac troponin T.