Fig. 4

Fig. 4 Collagen oxidation and cross-linking in the infarcted mouse heart.

a The hearts of adult mice injected with TMR-O (2 nmol/g, IV) at 5–35 days after myocardial infarction (MI) are shown in their long axis. TMR-O fluorescence in the infarct is, qualitatively, already high at day 10, (n = 5 except for 35 dpi where n = 6). b Sectioning of the heart into 1 mm thick short axis slices confirms that the TMR-O signal is arising from the infarcted myocardium and is patchy but substantial by day 10 (n = 5 except for 35 dpi where n = 6). c Time course of TMR-O fluorescence in murine infarcts(n = 5 except for 35 dpi where n = 6). The oxidation and cross linking of collagen is already significant by day 10, peaks at day 21 and subsequently decreases. Data are means ± SD of 5-6 measurements where each data point represents one mouse. Source data are provided in the Source Data file. P-values are shown where significant, one-way ANOVA with post hoc comparisons, two tailed. d, e AFOG-stained histology sections at the mid-ventricular level show that the collagen-rich injury area (blue) colocalizes well with the TMR-O signal on fluorescence microscopy (n = 5 except for 35 dpi where n = 6). Healthy myocardium is stained with a green, fluorescent nuclear stain (NucSpot). Scale bars = 1 mm.