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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 May 19.
Published in final edited form as: Ann Biomed Eng. 2010 Jul 8;38(12):3605–3617. doi: 10.1007/s10439-010-0114-3

FIGURE 9.

FIGURE 9

In the traction-free state, collagen fibers in the fbln5 +/+ artery and the fbln5 −/− artery have different degrees of undulation. Panels i, ii, and iii show cross, en face, and longitudinal sections, respectively. Collagen was imaged at an axial stretch of λ = 1.4 and transmural pressure of P = 40 mmHg for both knockout and wild-type arteries; images were stacked to generate a 3D reconstruction (axis of the vessel oriented horizontally). Collagen fibers from the fbln5 −/− vessel appear straightened while collagen fibers from the fbln5 +/+ vessel appear undulated, indicating that collagen fibers in fbln5 −/− vessels become engaged at a lower axial stretch ratio.