Table 3. Quantitative analysis of microvasculature parameters in infarcted cardiac tissue from WT and MAC-Mmp14 KO mice on day 7 after MI.
Capillaries correspond to CD31+SMA- vessels of diameter <3 µm. Data are means ± SEM of 5–6 mice per genotype. Unpaired t-test. Significant differences are indicated as *p<0.05.
| Minkowski-based metrics | WT | MAC-Mmp14 KO |
|---|---|---|
| Vascular volume density (%) | 12.65 ± 0.36 | 13.26 ± 0.34 * |
| Vascular surface area density (× 10−3) (µm2/µm3) | 21.24 ± 2.5 | 23.13 ± 1.92 |
| Graph-based metrics | ||
| Vascular segment length (µm) | 6.97 ± 0.74 | 6.2 ± 0.18 |
| Vascular segment surface (µm2) | 36.41 ± 5.52 | 29.5 ± 1.6 |
| Vascular segment volume (µm3) | 17 ± 3.8 | 12.54 ± 1.53 |
| Tortuosity (µm/µm) | 1.61 ± 0.02 | 1.61 ± 0.03 |
| Vascular segments (× 105)a | 4.12 ± 0.68 | 5.48 ± 0.53 |
| Vascular segmentsb | 144.17 ± 14.15 | 158.27 ± 2.31 |
| Vessels of diameter <= 3 (µm) (%) | 95.48 ± 2.55 | 96.97 ± 1.85 * |
| Vessels of diameter between 3 and 6 (µm) (%) | 4.51 ± 2.52 | 3.03 ± 1.85 |
| Vessels of diameter > 6 (µm) (%) | 0.012 ± 0.001 | 0.028 ± 0.001 |
| Vessels of diameter <= 3 (µm) (× 105)a | 3.97 ± 0.71 | 5.33 ± 0.59 * |
| Vessels of diameter between 3 and 6 (µm) (× 105)a | 0.16 ± 0.06 | 0.15 ± 0.09 |
| Vessels of diameter > 6 (µm)a | 32.81 ± 0.0001 | 73.36 ± 0.0001 |
| Branching nodes (× 104)a | 22.39 ± 4.28 | 30.43 ± 2.51 |
| Blind-ends/sprouts (× 104)a | 6.06 ± 0.92 | 7.93 ± 1.2 |
| Branching nodesb | 77.38 ± 9.59 | 87.31 ± 2.14 |
| Blind-ends/sproutsb | 24.09 ± 4.07 | 25.9 ± 1.66 |
| SMA-related metrics | ||
| Vessels covered with SMA (%) | 47.2 ± 17.67 | 53.54 ± 12 |
| SMA+ layer thikness (µm) | 2.98 ± 0.76 | 2.72 ± 0.43 |
| Damage index | 0.21 ± 0.11 | 0.19 ± 0.09 |
| Myofibroblasts (× 104)a | 2.51 ± 1.18 | 2.05 ± 0.64 |
| Myofibroblastsb | 8.9 ± 3.8 | 5.97 ± 1.47 |
| Myofibroblasts (× 105)d | 19.1 ± 10 | 15.3 ± 4.7 |
| SMA+ perivascular cells (× 104)a | 4.74 ± 2.36 | 5.25 ± 1.59 |
| SMA+ perivascular cellsb | 16.16 ± 7.31 | 15.48 ± 3.65 |
| SMA+ perivascular cells (× 105)d | 36.3 ± 19.3 | 38.9 ± 10.8 |
| Efficiency in oxygen diffusion | ||
| Maximal extravascular distance (µm) | 51.47 ± 10.83 | 45.47 ± 7.11 |
| Median extravascular distance (µm) | 14.28 ± 2.64 | 13 ± 1.38 |
| Capillary densityc | 1201 ± 298.12 | 1720 ± 368.61 * |
| Intercapillary distance | 8.09 ± 0.51 | 7.31 ± 0.27 * |
| Diffusion distance | 10.84 ± 0.51 | 9.76 ± 0.49 * |
| Additional cell-related metrics | ||
| Endothelial cells (× 104)a | 6.2 ± 1.05 | 7.91 ± 1.21 |
| Endothelial cellsb | 22.45 ± 3.91 | 23.16 ± 1.34 |
| Endothelial cells (× 105)d | 46.6 ± 8.1 | 58.8 ± 7.7 * |
a per mm3 of tissue,b per mm vessel length,c per mm2 of tissue,d per mm3 vessel volume.