Determination of myocardial infarction area

After MI/RI, the left ventricle was retained, weighed, and sliced into five sections (1-2 mm thick), followed by staining with pre-heated 1% TTC solution and incubation at 37 °C for 15 min. The sections were then fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde for 30 min. Finally, the sections were evaluated using microscopy (DM3000; Leica, Wetzlar, Germany) (n=3 in each group). The infarction area and myocardial area were measured. The area of myocardial infarction (%) was calculated as the area of myocardial infarction in each section divided by the myocardial area in the section, multiplied by 100.