Fig 3. Elastika van Gieson and Masson Trichrome Goldner stained aortic NA and aneurysmal/dissection tissue.

In (A) representative images of Elastika van Gieson stained NA and aneurysmal aortic tissue, either native (upper row) or decellularized (with 2.5% NaOH; lower row), are shown as well as magnified areas of the representative images. Yellow asterisks represent muscle cells and yellow arrowheads elastic fibers. In (B) representative images as well as magnified areas of Masson Trichrome Goldner stained aortic tissue are shown. The upper row shows native tissue of NA specimen, aneurysmal tissue of BAV- or TAV-origin as well as dissection specimen. Black arrowheads indicate cellular material. In the row below the corresponding decellularized tissues are depicted. Scale bar represents 50μm and in the magnified areas 20μm.