Files in this Data Supplement:

• Figures - (Adobe Acrobat file) (127 KB). Online figure 1. Association of BGN with leucocytes and fibroblasts 7 days post MI (A, B) Sirius red staining of an infarct scar of a WT mouse 7 days post MI (40 x magnification). The boxes mark the areas of higher magnification used for immunostaining presented in C-F. (C, E), double immunostaining of biglycan (red, LF-106) and CD45 (green) as leukocyte marker, 100x and 400x magnifications. (D, F), consecutive section stained with vimentin as fibroblast marker, 100x and 400x magnification. Online figure 2. Basal characterization of cardiac phenotype of bgn-/0-mice Cardiac phenotype of healthy WT and bgn-/0-mice was analyzed at 15 months of age. (A), heart to body weight ratio; (B), heart rate; (C), ejection fraction; (D), pressure volume curves and enddiastolic pressure volume-ratio (EDPVR-WT, 0.32 ± 0.11 mmHg/μL; EDPVR-bgn-/0, 0.19 ± 0.07 mmHg/μL, p < 0.05); (E, F) sirius-red staining of left ventricular myocardium of WT (E) and bgn-/0-mice (F); magnification, 100x; mean ± SEM; n=6; *, p < 0.05 as determined by t-test. Online figure 3. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR of mmp2 (A), mmp8 (B), mmp9 (C), mmp13 (D), timp1 (E), timp2 (F) and timp4 (G) -mRNA expressed as fold of non-infarcted WT; mean ± SEM; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001; #, p < 0.05 vs respective non infarcted controls; non-infarcted WT (n = 4), non-infarcted bgn-/0 (n = 5); MI-WT (n = 6); MI-bgn-/0 (n = 4), 7 days post MI. Online figure 4. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR of enzymes involved in crosslinking of collagen and ECM 7 days post MI. (A), procollagen-prolyl-4-hydroxylase (p4HA3), (B), procollagen-lysyl-hydroxylase 1 (plod1), (C), procollagen-lysyl-hydroxylase 2 (plod2) and (D), tissue transglutaminase 2 (tgm2) mRNA expressed as fold of non-infarcted WT; mean ± SEM; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001; #, p < 0.05 vs respective non infarcted controls; non-infarcted WT (n = 4), non-infarcted bgn-/0 (n = 5); MI-WT (n = 6); MI-bgn-/0 (n = 4), 7 days post MI.
• Methods - (Microsoft Word file) (81 KB).