Fig. 3

a Hematoxylin and eosin staining revealed that the local intima of the aortic arch was markedly thickened in the DM group. The middle layer of elastic fibers was disrupted, arranged in a disorderly manner and there was little inflammatory cell infiltration. The myocardial cell morphology revealed swelling and degeneration, and the myocardial interstitial fiber structure was disordered in the DM groups. Masson staining revealed that the content of myocardial interstitial fibers increased, the morphology was coarse and disordered, and fibers connected into a network in the DM group. The lesions were improved in the medication groups. b quantitative analysis of fibrotic in myocardial. *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01 vs. healthy group; #P < 0.05 and ##P < 0.01 vs. DM group. Healthy, control group; DM, type 1 diabetes mellitus mimic model group; DM + ART (50 mg/kg), diabetes mellitus treated with a low concentration of ART; DM + ART (100 mg/kg), diabetes mellitus treated with a high concentration of ART; DM + INS, diabetes mellitus treated with insulin