Fig. 3

Endothelial-specific knockout of MICU1 exacerbates cardiac microvascular injury in diabetic mice. (A) A TUNEL assay was performed to assess CMECs apoptosis, scale bar = 20 μm. (B) Percentages of TUNEL-positive nuclei over total number of nuclei (n = 6 per group). (C) Percentages of TUNEL positive CMECs over total number of CD31-positive nuclei (n = 6 per group). (D) Cardiac microvascular perfusion is indicated by the ratio of lectin-positive microvessels (green) to CD31-positive microvessels (red) (n = 6 per group); scale bar = 20 μm. (E) Quantification of Lectin positive microvessels is shown (n = 6 per group). (F) Immunofluorescence staining of VE-cadherin was performed to observe the changes in cardiac microvessel endothelial integrity and barrier function. scale bar = 50 μm. (G) Comparative quantitative analysis of fluorescence intensity of VE-cadherin (n = 6 per group). (H) Representative fluorescence images for intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1. scale bar = 50 μm. (I) Comparative quantitative analysis of fluorescence intensity of ICAM-1 (n = 6 per group). **p < 0.01