Fig. 1

The therapeutic effect of LIPUS on myocarditis and optimal parameter screening. A Timeline of an EAM intervention experiment performed in the presented study in which animals were immunized with 200 μg of cardiac-specific peptide on day 0 and 7, then treated with focused ultrasound that targeted the spleen on day 0 or day 7. B Data from different experimental conditions (1.0 MHz US at 0.1 MPa, 0.35 MPa, 0.473 MPa; 1 s on /5 s off burst for 6 or 12 min per day) were shown. On the final day of the experiment, BW change, SW/BW and HW/BW of ultrasound treated animals in different experimental periods day 0–21 or day 7–21. C HE staining for the degree of inflammatory cell infiltration of EAM hearts. Scale: 500 μm (top) and 50 μm (bottom). (D) MASSON staining determined collagen deposition in the inflammatory region. Scale: 500 μm (top) and 50 μm (bottom). Representative HE and MASSON staining images of indicated groups. Bar graphs on the right in C and D show quantitation of data (n = 5). E HE staining of spleen tissue sections. n = 5. Scale: 50 μm. ^* Represents control vs. EAM; ^# represents LIPUS 0.1 MPa vs. EAM; ^& represents LIPUS 0.35 MPa vs. EAM; ⁺ represents LIPUS 0.473 MPa vs. EAM. (Data were shown as the mean ± SD, ordinary one-way analysis of variance, Tukey's multiple comparisons test; ^*P or ⁺P < 0.05, ^##P, ^&&P or ⁺⁺P < 0.01, ^***P, ^###P, ^&&&P or ⁺⁺⁺P < 0.001). BW: body weight; SW/BW: spleen weight to body weight; HW/BW: heart weight to body weight; EAM: experimental autoimmune myocarditis; HE: hematoxylin and eosin