Assessment of matrix composition and maturity. A) Verhoeff’s van Giemsa (top panel) and Masson’s trichrome (bottom panel) for representative ascending thoracic aortic specimens. Images were oriented such that the adventitial side is located at the top and intimal side on the bottom. Images were captured at 20X magnification. Scale bar= 50 μm. B) Elastin content, n=10 (TAV-NA), 9 (TAV-TAA), 5 (BAV-NA) and 11 (BAV-TAA). C) Immature collagen n=8 (TAV-NA), 9 (TAV-TAA), 4 (BAV-NA) and 9 (BAV-TAA) and D) Mature collagen n=8 (TAV-NA), 7 (TAV-TAA), 3 (BAV-NA) and 8 (BAV-TAA) and bars represent mean ± SEM. *Significant from TAV-NA, **Significant from TAV-TAA, p<0.05.