Figure 5.

Validation of quantification methods for vascular calcification. The validation study was performed using separately prepared adenine-dosed rats fed with a normal diet for 22 weeks. Robust but heterogeneous alizarin-positive calcification is observed in the whole-mount aortas taken from two rats (A, a–f; six segments from one aorta, g–k; five from another aorta). After the histological measurement of calcified areas (% of total area), HCl-extracted Ca from each sample of tissue was quantified using the atomic absorption method (shown as ng·mg⁻¹ tissue). The two measures of the Ca burden showed a significant correlation (B, R²= 0.83, n= 11). Bar is 5 mm (A).