Figure 5.

(a) Mean stiffness in various locations along the wild-type (wt) and knock-out (ko) mouse aorta, showing stiffening with proximity to the heart, and the enhanced stiffening in ko mice (^∗p < 0.05). The whiskers represent the range of measurements within the 1.5× interquartile range. The hollow circle represents an outlier. The diamond is the overall mean of stiffness. (b) Wide-field en face OCT image of a whole mouse aorta, showing representative locations of elastography imaging. (c–e) Mean stiffness elastograms (averaged from 5 to 100 μm in depth) on a log₁₀ scale overlaid on structural images virtually sliced 20 μm past the adventitia, showing an overall stiffening of the aorta toward the heart. The scale bars represent 1 mm in (b) and 200 μm in (c)–(e). To see this figure in color, go online.