Fig. 1

miR-18a is poorly expressed in HF and miR-18a overexpression alleviates HF in mice. Sham-operated mice were used as controls, and HF mice were treated or not treated with NC-agomir or miR-18a-agomir. a RT-qPCR detection of the miR-18a expression pattern in the mouse heart tissue normalized to U6. b Cardiomyocyte size in the myocardial tissues observed under HE staining (400×). c The degree of CVF in the mouse heart tissue detected by Masson staining (200×). d The apoptosis of mouse heart cells determined by TUNEL staining (200×). * p < 0.05 vs. sham-operated mice; # p < 0.05 vs. the HF mice injected with NC-agomir. n = 10. The measurement data (mean ± standard deviation) were compared by the t test. One-way ANOVA was utilized for comparisons among multiple groups, and the Tukey’s post-hoc test was employed for intra-group pairwise comparison