Fig. 4

Effect of AKG supplementation on diabetes-induced myocardial damage and cardiac fibrosis. A Representative H&E-stained cardiac sections; arrows indicate lymphocyte infiltration, and arrowheads indicate degeneration of myocardial fibers. B Representative Sirius red-stained sections of cardiac tissue and deposition of collagen appear red as indicated by arrows. C Quantification of % fibrotic area in LV tissue(n = 5). D Western blot image depicting the protein levels of CTGF and troponin I. The bar graph below represents the relative levels of E CTGF and F troponin I in the heart tissue lysates of control and diabetic rats with or without AKG treatment (n = 3). Protein levels are normalized to vinculin. All values are given as the mean ± SD. Statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons post-test, where ***p < 0.0002, ****p < 0.0001 vs control group, ####p < 0.0001 vs STZ group