Taken together, histological examination of the hearts and cine MRI studies indicate that Fpn fl/fl Myh6.Cre+ mice develop a phenotype consistent with dilated cardiomyopathy.
These changes in cardiac performance could not be attributed to Cre recombinase toxicity in the heart because Myh6.Cre+ mice exhibited normal cardiac function at age 3 and 6 mo as compared with wild-type littermate controls (Table S2).