Fig 2: Effects of long-term noise exposure on heart immunoblotting for endothelin-1, NOX2 and 3-NT. (A) Cardiac ET-1 and NOX-2 protein expression by Western blotting as well as levels of 3-NT-positive proteins by dot blotting. (B) Representative original blotting images for the densitometric quantifications. Data points are pooled heart samples, representing 2 animals per point. Statistical analysis with one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test. p < 0.05: * vs respective to 0d.

Fig 3: Treatment with the GLP-1 receptor agonist liraglutide suppresses CLP-induced vascular inflammation in polymicrobial septic mice. Aortic gene expression levels of (A) interleukin 6 (Il6), (B) inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNos), (C) tumor necrosis factor alpha (Tnfα) and (D) intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (Icam1) were measured by quantitative RT-PCR in aortic tissue. (E,F) Abundance of 3-NT-positive proteins and Nox2 protein expression in the aorta was determined by immunohistochemistry. Representative immunohistochemical images are shown next to the densitometric quantification. Magnification of 40× and scale bar of 50 μm. Data are the mean ± SEM of 3 individual samples (each pooled from 3 to 4 mice) (A–D) or 3 individual animals (E,F). * p < 0.05 vs. B6J; # p < 0.05 vs. CLP.

Fig 4: Summary scheme of beneficial cardiovascular effects of the GLP-1 receptor agonist liraglutide on CLP-induced polymicrobial sepsis. CLP-induced mid-grade polymicrobial sepsis led to a reduction in body weight and blood sugar in both vehicle and Lira-treated mice. However, in contrast to the vehicle, Lira protected from sepsis-induced systemic and vascular inflammation and oxidative stress from inflammatory cell-derived Nox2 activity, which translated into a normalized endothelial function yet without a net benefit on mortality. These data demonstrate a new role for GLP-1 receptor agonists like liraglutide in reducing the cardiovascular complications of polymicrobial sepsis based on their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Created with BioRender.com.