Fig. 5

Confocal images of the expression of ROCK2 (green color) and cleaved (activated) caspase-3 (red color) in the normal human adult left atrial tissue sample (upper panels), left atrial tissue of mitral regurgitation patients with sinus rhythm (middle panels), and left atrial tissue of mitral regurgitation patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) (lower panels). Merge pictures revealed co-localization (insets, arrowhead, yellow spots) of expression of ROCK2 and cleaved caspase-3 in the left atrial tissue of mitral regurgitation patients with sinus rhythm (middle panel), and mitral regurgitation patients with AF (lower panel). Myolysis (arrow) was mainly found in mitral regurgitation patients with sinus rhythm and mitral regurgitation patients with AF. Bar = 20 μm.