Click on image to view larger version.

Figure 6 Diabetes-induced ultrastructural changes and fibrotic effect of the heart. Ultrastructural evaluation was performed by electron microscopic examination (A) for the hearts of diabetic mice 6 months after STZ treatment. Inset in panel A are the scores for the semi-quantitative analysis as described in the Materials and Methods section. Fibrosis was evaluated by Sirius-red staining of collagen in the hearts of diabetic mice 6 months after STZ treatment (B). The semi-quantitative analysis was performed by a computer-image analysis system as described in Materials and Methods. Data were presented as mean values ± SD. In each group, at least 5 mice were included. A 2-tailed unpaired Student t test was used. *p < 0.05 versus corresponding control. Abbreviations as in Figure 1.