Figure 1

Measurement of total myocardial copper content, and mRNA and protein levels of copper-uptake transporters CTR1 and CTR2 in LV- tissue from control, diabetic and TETA-treated diabetic rats. A: Total myocardial copper concentrations (μg/g dry LV tissue) measured by PIXE/RBS in LV sections. Values are means ± SEM; significance of differences has been analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s multiple-comparisons test: **P < 0.01, diabetic vs. control; ^##P < 0.01, TETA-diabetic vs. diabetic: n = 7/group. B and C: Representative Western blots for CTR1. The intensities of the CTR1 bands (~45 kD and ~70 kD, respectively) normalized to Ponceau-S-stained bands are depicted graphically. D: Representative Western blot of CTR2. The total intensities of the CTR2 protein bands (~32 kD and ~64 kD) relative to Ponceau-S-stained bands are depicted graphically. E: RT-qPCR analysis of Ctr2 mRNA levels. Results were normalized to a robust normalizer (geometric mean of mRNA levels of Rpl13a, Tbp and Ndc). All data are means ± SEM and presented as relative to the respective controls, which were set at 1: *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs. control and ^#P < 0.05 vs. diabetic: n = 7/group (B, C, D), and n = 9/group (E).