A Segmental Approach from Molecular Profiling to Medical Imaging to Study Bicuspid Aortic Valve Aortopathy

Figures

• 

  Figure A1. The volcano plot of proteins.

• 

  Figure 1. Map of the ascending aorta segmentation. Six segments were cut for each aortic sample, i.e., anterior (A), anterior-right (AR), posterior-right (PR), posterior (P), posterior-left (PL), and anterior-left (AL), and preserved for analyses.

• 

  Figure 2. MiRNA and protein network link. The networks indicate predicted interactions between validated miRNAs and the significantly dysregulated proteins. Green = upregulation; red = downregulation.

• 

  Figure 3. Volcano plot for the selection of the differentially expressed proteins. The 579 proteins with a p-value < 0.05 identified from the proteomic analysis (see Supplementary Material) are displayed. Extracted and plotted alone on top of the plot are the significantly dysregulated proteins (highlighted in red) as determined by cut-off values of −0.5 > log2FC > 0.5 and −log10(p-value) > 1.3. Proteins with log2FC < 0 are downregulated in dilated vs. non-dilated segments, while proteins with log2FC > 0 are upregulated.

• 

  Figure 4. Quantitative histomorphometry of the elastic component. (A) Representative images (200× magnification) for non-dilated and dilated segments, and differences (% area) of elastic fibres showing decreased elastic fibres in dilated segments (p = 0.04); (B): example of measurements of elastic layer (40× magnification) and differences in thickness showing a thinner layer in dilated segments (p = 0.02).

• 

  Figure 5. 4D flow analysis in patients with both molecular and haemodynamic data. First column: wall shear stress (WSS, range = 0–2000 mPAŸs); second column: velocity streamlines (range = −122–262 cm/s); third column: flow displacement.

• 

  Figure 6. Correlation between WSS and miRNA. Relationship between WSS and miRNA expression in n = 4 patients with anterior-right dilation. Red = average of posterior segments; blue = average of anterior segments. Both graphs show less miRNA expression and higher WSS in the dilated segments.