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Figure 2 | Critical Care

Figure 2

From: Hypercapnia attenuates ventilator-induced diaphragm atrophy and modulates dysfunction

Figure 2

Diaphragm myosin heavy chain content and concentration, cross-sectional area and function after 18 hours of mechanical ventilation. (a) Myosin heavy chain content per muscle weight in diaphragm of the MV group showed a decreased trend compared with CON and MV + H, but was not significantly different between groups. (b) Myosin heavy chain concentration in diaphragm single fibers. Control diaphragm fibers (n = 51) showed a higher concentration of myosin heavy chain compared with fibers from ventilated rats (n = 57) (*versus control; P <0.05). Fibers from hypercapnic rats (n = 53) showed higher concentration of myosin heavy chain versus fibers from normocapnic ventilated animals (#versus MV and versus control; P <0.05). (c) Diaphragm fast type fibers cross-sectional area. Cross-sectional area was reduced in MV animals versus CON (*P <0.05). The reduction of cross-sectional area was less pronounced in diaphragm fibers from MV + H rats. (d) Maximal force corrected for cross-sectional area. Force of fibers from 18-hour mechanically ventilated rats were significantly lower compared with control (*P <0.05). CON, control; MV, mechanically ventilated; MV + H, mechanically ventilated with hypercapnia.

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