Fig 3.

Left: Systolic pressure along the aorta at different ages. From top to down: (a) physiologic ageing, (b) ageing without increase of pulse wave velocity and (c) ageing without plastic geometric remodelling. Distances are normalized to aortic length. From 20 to 80 years of age, with 10 years step. The darker the younger (see arrows). Right: characteristic impedance at different ages along the aorta (the inset shows aortic root values with age)(d), LV work during ageing (e) and LV pressure-volume loops at 80 years old (f) for complete ageing (continuous line) and in the absence of arterial stiffening (dashed line) and remodelling (dotted line).