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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2012 Nov 29;33(2):285–293. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.112.300388

Figure 1. Excess dietary vitamin A promotes heart valve calcification phenotypes in mice.

Figure 1

C57BL/6J wild type mice were fed either a control diet containing 20 IU/g retinyl palmitate or an excess vitamin A diet containing 200 IU/g over a period of 12 months. (A, B) von Kossa reactivity indicates calcific nodule formation (arrows) in aortic valves from mice fed control (A), or an excess vitamin A (B) diet. (C) Quantification of von Kossa as a percentage of total area defined by Alcian blue staining (n=3). (D) qPCR to show fold changes in gene expression in aortic valves from mice fed an excess vitamin A diet compared to controls (n=3). (E–H) Echocardiography and Doppler flow analysis to show aortic valve peak pressure gradient (E) and peak velocity (F) in mice fed excess vitamin A. (G, H) Representative Doppler profiles of aortic outflow velocity for mice subjected to control (G) and excess vitamin A (H) diets (n=6). Blue line indicates measurements taken. * p<0.05 over control.