Figure 6. The spleen influences pathological cardiac remodeling in heart failure (HF).
A, Schema for splenectomy studies in mice with chronic HF. Splenectomy (or sham abdominal surgery) was performed in HF mice 8 weeks after coronary ligation (or sham operation), and remodeling was assessed by echocardiography over an additional 8 weeks. B, M-mode ECGs from 1 mouse at baseline, 8 weeks postligation (HF), and 16 weeks postligation/8 weeks postsplenectomy (HF/splenectomy). C, Quantitative group echocardiographic data for left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic and end-systolic volume (EDV and ESV) and LV ejection fraction (EF) in sham operated and ligated HF mice 8 weeks after splenectomy (n=7 sham mice; n=11 HF mice) or sham abdominal surgery (n=4 HF mice). D. Representative confocal images of CD11b (for macrophages, arrows) and CD11c (for DCs, arrows) immunostained heart sections from HF mice (16 weeks postligation) with or without splenectomy at 8 weeks and corresponding quantification (n=3–4 per group).