Figure 4. Myocardial infarction (MI) influences gut microbiota composition. A, Quantification of the bacterial load based on 16S rDNA content per 1 mg fecal or heart samples collected from untreated mice at different time points after myocardial infarction (MI; n=4). B and C, Heat map depicting changes in gut microbiota composition in untreated MI or sham mice at 1 day after MI (MI1D) and 7 days after MI (MI7D; n=3). D, Experimental procedure for examining the impact of probiotics on outcome after MI. E, Ejection fraction (EF) of antibiotics-treated (ABX) mice supplied with water, milk, or a Lactobacillus-based probiotic cocktail at 21 days after MI. One-way ANOVA with a Tukey adjustment was used for data analysis. *P<0.05; **P<0.01; ***P<0.001.