Wnt signaling pathway inhibitor promotes mesenchymal stem cells differentiation into cardiac progenitor cells in vitro and improves cardiomyopathy in vivo

Figure 6 Cardiac functional analysis by echocardiography. A: Ultrasound images taken at parasternal long axis showing B and M mode scans of left ventricle in sham control, myocardial infarction (MI+) group, mesenchymal stem cells (MI+MSC) treated group, and inhibitor Wnt production-4 (IWP-4) (MI+IWP-4) treated groups; B: Bar graphs representing cardiac functional analysis in terms of left ventricular systolic internal dimensions, left ventricular diastolic internal dimensions, end-systolic volume and end-diastolic volume, ejection fraction and fractional shortening, after 2 and 4 wk of MI model development. Both untreated and IWP-4 treated MSC groups showed cardiac functional improvement. However, IWP-4 treated group exhibited more significant results. Statistical analysis was performed using One-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post-hoc test. Data are presented as mean ± SEM with significance level P < 0.05 (where ^bP < 0.01; ^cP < 0.001). IWP-4: Inhibitor Wnt production-4; MSC: Mesenchymal stem cell; MI: Myocardial infarction; LVIDs: Left ventricular systolic internal dimensions; LVIDd: Left ventricular diastolic internal dimensions.