Figure 2

Immunohistochemistry and western blot quantification of caveolin-3. Top: Left ventricle slides were obtained from frozen tissue by a cryotome and stained with anti caveolin-3 antibody, followed by HRP-conjugated secondary antibody and DAB reaction. One representative picture of cardiac tissue from controls and trained rats is shown. Immunohistochemistry images were analyzed by a software, which allowed the evaluation of the percentage of the area that reacted with anti caveolin-3 antibody. P-values are referred to trained vs. control rats. Bottom: Representative Western Blot assay with anti caveolin-3 antibodies. Bands of approximately 18 kDa correspond to caveolin 3 monomer. Cytoplasmic actin (43 kDa) was immunostained for equal loading control in the same gel. Lanes 1 to 4: protein extracted from left ventricle of control rats. M: markers. Lanes 5 to 8: protein extracted from left ventricle of exercise trained rats. The Western Blot was scanned by a densitometer and caveolin-3/actin ratio was found significantly larger in blots from trained rat hearts respect to controls.