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Figure 1 Endothelial Cells of Fetal Valves Have an Immature/Activated Phenotype
(A) CD31-positive fetal valvular endothelial cells (VECs) in the second and third trimesters and VECs in children’s valves consistently expressed nonmuscle myosin produced by embryonic or activated cells (SMemb), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1, MMP-13, and cell adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and VCAM-1, whereas normal adult VECs mostly had negligible expression levels of these proteins. Bar = 50 µm. Magnification 400x. (B) Percent of endothelial cells positive for maker. *Significant differences in protein expression in adult valves (p < 0.001). From Aikawa et al. (1).
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