Figure 2.

(a) En face (x,y) structural image of an aorta virtually sliced 20 μm past the adventitia; and (b) corresponding stiffness elastogram on a log₁₀ scale overlaid on the structural image. Representative longitudinal, histological aortic sections: (c) hematoxylin and eosin and (d) autofluorescence, showing similar micro-structure to that seen in (a). (e) B-scan (x,z) structural image with the compliant layer above the collapsed aorta (scanning from the top down); arrow shows a small gap in the lumen; and (f) corresponding stiffness elastogram overlaid on the structural image (compliant layer masked out in black). The asterisk shows a stiffness artifact from the gap in the lumen. In (e and f), depth is scaled by refractive index of 1.4. (g) En face (x,y) elastogram virtually sliced 50 μm below the adventitia, corresponding to the tunica media. The dashed square denotes the region displayed in Fig. 3. (h) Line plot of stiffness along the triangle-marked dashed line in (g). The 10–90% rise distance is shown by the green boxes and quantified. The scale bars represent 100 μm. To see this figure in color, go online.