Figure 3

Intratracheal DEP instillation increased apoptotic cell death and reduced cardiomyocyte viability. (a) Representative images of left ventricle from rats 6 h after instillation of DEP (0.5 mg, lower panel) or saline (0.5 ml, upper panel) showing blue staining of TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells. DEP instillations (black columns, b) increased the number of apoptotic cells in the heart and (c) decreased the area of viable myocardium (% of left ventricle (LV)), compared to hearts from non-instilled (grey columns) and saline instilled (open columns) rats. Results are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 3-4) **P < 0.01, **P < 0.001, saline versus DEP; one-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post-hoc test.