Development of cardiac hypertrophy in <i>TSC2</i>^-/- mice.

<p>The data at 4 months of age in (A) to (C), (E) and (G). The data at 4 weeks of age in (D), (F) and (H). (A): Haematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained heart sections. (B): Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA)-stained heart sections. (C) and (D): Cardiomyocyte cross-sectional area was measured by tracing the outline of 100 myocytes in each section. (E) and (F): Number of TUNEL-positive cardiomyocytes. (G) and (H): mRNA expressions of <i>Nppa</i>, <i>Myh7</i> and <i>Col1a2</i> were determined by quantitative RT-PCR. Data were normalized to the <i>Gapdh</i> content and are expressed as fold increase over levels in the <i>TSC2</i>^+/+ group. Open and closed bars represent <i>TSC2</i>^+/+ and <i>TSC2</i>^-/- mice, respectively. Values represent the mean ± S.E.M. of data from 4 mice in (C) and (E), from 3 mice in (D) and (F), from 3–4 mice in (G) and from 4–5 mice in (H) in each group. *<i>P</i> < 0.05 versus control group. Scale bars, 50 micrometers.