Figure 4.

p38MAPKα Expression Was Positively Correlated to the Apoptotic Rate of Aortic VSMCs in Aortic Dissection Specimens

(A) Photographs and quantification of TUNEL in human aorta samples (TUNEL, green signal; DAPI, blue signal; SMA, red signal). Significant difference in the percentage of apoptotic cells was observed between NA and AD (n = 10 per group). (B) Western blotting showed significantly higher p38MAPKα levels (2.5-fold) in AD compared with NA (n = 10 per group). (C) Dot plots represent log₁₀ percentage of apoptotic cells per mm² against log₁₀ p38MAPKα protein expression level. The lines represent approximated curves. The correlation coefficient (r = 0.98) and the p value (p < 0.05) indicated the statistical significance of the positive correlation between the x and y variables. Data were represented as mean ± SD. The TUNEL experiment was performed twice, and the western blotting experiment was performed thrice. ∗p < 0.05.