Fig. 8

Knockdown of Nrf2 abolishes the HDAC3 inhibition-induced protective effect in vivo. a Representative immunofluorescence with CD31 from vehicle treated T2DM mice (fed by STZ and HFD), RGFP966 treated (10 mg/kg) T2DM mice or Nrf2 knockout mice with RGFP966 treated T2DM mice aorta tissue sections. Scale bars: 200 μm. b Representative confocal images of apoptosis in aortal vascular endothelium. Scale bars: 40 μm. c The presence of immunofluorescence with CD31 and Ki67 of aortal vascular endothelium. Scale bars: 20 μm. d Representative confocal images of oxidative damage marker 3-NT in aortal vascular endothelium. Scale bars: 40 μm. e–h Quantification of the CD31 positive area in (a), TUNEL + cells in (b), the proportion of Ki67 positive area in (c), the number of 3-NT staining in (d) respectively. Values displayed are means ± SEM (n = 5). Significance (e–h): *P < 0.05 vs. db/db mice, #P < 0.05 vs. RGFP966 treated db/db mice