Figure 3.

Analysis of pAkt and Akt levels in the ascending aortic wall. Western blotting analysis, to evaluate pErk1/Erk2 protein levels, was performed on ascending aorta protein extracts from six nonaneurysmal aortas (N), nine patients with AsAA associated to TAV and nine patients with AsAA associated to BAV (A); the samples were normalized with total Erk1/Erk2. Representative image is shown. Densitometric analysis of pErk1/Erk2 protein levels (B). Relative Erk1/Erk2 activation represents the ratio between the densities of pErk1/2 and Erk1/2 bands. Data are reported as mean ± SD. **P<0.01.