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Fig. 1 | Cardiovascular Diabetology

Fig. 1

From: Glycemic control by the SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin decreases aortic stiffness, renal resistivity index and kidney injury

Fig. 1

Empagliflozin improves aortic stiffness. a EMPA ameliorates progression of aortic stiffening, assessed by in vivo measures of pulse wave velocity (PWV) (n = 5–6/group). b Aortic endothelial stiffness was evaluated in ex vivo aortic explants utilizing atomic force microscopy (n = 5–6/group). c Vasomotor responses to acetylcholine using ex vivo wire myography (n = 5/group). dg Diabetic female db/db mice (DbC) exhibit shortening–contraction, separation, lifting and apoptosis of endothelial cells compared to lean control (CkC) and diabetic db/db mice treated with EMPA (DbE). d Illustrates that endothelial cell(s) (EC) (arrows) are elongated and tightly adherent to the internal elastic lamina in the CkC. e Depicts the shorter–contracted ECs in the DbC. Note the shortening–contraction and loss of elongation of the ECs. Also note the one EC appears to demonstrate separation and lifting, thinning and early apoptotic electron dense Nucleus (N) (open arrow). f Demonstrates that EMPA treatment (DbE) protects these EC from undergoing the remodeling changes noted in DbC and are more elongated and tightly adherent similar to CkC. A semi-quantitative analysis of EC length is shown in the bar graph (g) and indicates significantly shorter EC in DbC compared to CkC and DbE. The lengths (μm) of three EC were measured in samples from four mice in each group. Magnification ×800; bar = 2 µm. EL media elastic lamina, VSMC vascular smooth muscle cell. *p < 0.05 vs. CkC; p < 0.05 vs. DbC. All values are mean ± SE

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