Research Article

Association between Human Plasma Chondroitin Sulfate Isomers and Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaques

Table 3

Total plasma CS, ΔDi-4S, and ΔDi-nonS levels and CS charge density in control subjects, in the totality of patients and according to plaque typology.

Total CS ( /mL)ΔDi-4S ( /mL)ΔDi-nonS ( /mL)#CS charge density (%)

Controls ( )5.17 ± 1.481.61 ± 0.563.56 ± 0.9930.8 ± 4.5
Patients ( )6.28 ± 2.281.82 ± 0.774.46 ± 1.5928.6 ± 4.6
Soft ( )6.76 ± 2.162.03 ± 0.754.73 ± 1.4829.7 ± 4.0
Hard ( )5.69 ± 2.341.57 ± 0.744.12 ± 1.6927.1 ± 4.8
Patient versus control0.009 * 0.1320.0020.022
Soft versus control<0.0010.0170.0010.337
Hard versus control0.321*0.810.1690.004
Hard versus soft0.1140.040.2020.055

values obtained by Student’s -tests for normally distributed parameters or by *the Mann-Whitney Rank Sum tests for nonparametric ones are reported. #CS charge density was evaluated as ratio between ΔDi-4S and the sum of ΔDi-nonS and ΔDi-4S. Significant differences are reported in bold ( ).