Fig. 3

Gut microbiota pre-depletion by antibiotics abolishes the protection of running in MI. A Antibiotics (ABX and 1/4 ABX) decreased EF and FS in MI + Run mice (n = 8:10:10). B Antibiotics decreased endurance capacity in MI + Run mice (n = 7:7:7). C, D Antibiotics increased cardiac ANP and BNP mRNA expression in MI + Run mice (n = 6:6:6). E Antibiotics increased cardiac fibrosis in MI + Run mice (n = 7:6:8). F Antibiotics increased cardiac cross sectional area in MI + Run mice by H&E (n = 6:7:5). G Antibiotics increased cardiac cross sectional area in MI + Run mice by WGA (n = 8:8:8). H Antibiotics increased Bax/Bcl₂, cleaved Caspase3/Caspase3 and Collagen1 in MI + Run mice (n = 6:6:6). Scale bar: 50 μm in E and 25 μm in F and G. Data were represented as mean ± SD. Significant differences were assessed by one-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni's multiple comparisons test. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001