Phenotypic and Functional Changes of Endothelial and Smooth Muscle Cells in Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms

Figure 3

Characterization of the aortic endothelial cells from patients with aortic aneurysm with either tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) or bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) and controls (C). Upper panel represents typical aortic endothelial cell cultures from control and aneurysmal aortas. The SMA staining confirms the lack of medial SMC contamination in the endothelial cell culture. Vascular endothelial-cadherin (VE-cadherin), von Willebrand factor (vWF), and CD31/PECAM staining confirm endothelial nature of the isolated cells.