Fig. 3

Silence of RGS4 reduces cardiac fibrosis in MI mice. a Silence of RGS4 by the lentivirus vector carrying a RGS4-specific shRNA (LV-sh-RGS4) mitigates the MI-induced decrease in ejection fraction (EF%) assessed by echocardiography. Note the lack of effect on LV-sh-NC as a negative control. n = 6. b Silence of RGS4 by LV-sh-RGS4 mitigates the MI-induced decrease in fractional shortening (FS%) assessed by echocardiography. n = 6. c Silence of RGS4 by LV-sh-RGS4 reduces the MI-induced increase in the ratio of heart weight to tibia length, indicating a relief of hypertrophic response to MI. n = 6. d Left: representative Masson-staining images of cardiac sections showing the amelioration of cardiac fibrosis by LV-sh-RGS4 in MI mice relative to the sham-operated control mice. Right: statistical results of Masson staining. CVF: volume fraction of collagen. n = 5. e qRT-PCR results demonstrate the diminishment of MI-induced upregulation of collagens I, f collagen III and g α-SMA mRNA levels in MI mice. n = 3. h Western blot results demonstrate the reversal of MI-induced upregulation of collagens I, i CTGF and j α-SMA protein levels in MI mice I + LV-sh-NC served as a negative control. n = 5 or n = 7. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 versus Sham, ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01, ^###p < 0.001 versus MI + LV-sh-NC