Architectural trends in the human normal and bicuspid aortic valve leaflet and its relevance to valve disease

Aggarwal, A. , Ferrari, G., Joyce, E., Daniels, M. J., Sainger, R., Gorman, J. H., Gorman, R. and Sacks, M. S. (2014) Architectural trends in the human normal and bicuspid aortic valve leaflet and its relevance to valve disease. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 42(5), pp. 986-998. (doi: 10.1007/s10439-014-0973-0) (PMID:24488233) (PMCID:PMC4364391)

Abstract

The bicuspid aortic valve (AV) is the most common cardiac congenital anomaly and has been found to be a significant risk factor for developing calcific AV disease. However, the mechanisms of disease development remain unclear. In this study we quantified the structure of human normal and bicuspid leaflets in the early disease stage. From these individual leaflet maps average fiber structure maps were generated using a novel spline based technique. Interestingly, we found statistically different and consistent regional structures between the normal and bicuspid valves. The regularity in the observed microstructure was a surprising finding, especially for the pathological BAV leaflets and is an essential cornerstone of any predictive mathematical models of valve disease. In contrast, we determined that isolated valve interstitial cells from BAV leaflets show the same in vitro calcification pathways as those from the normal AV leaflets. This result suggests the VICs are not intrinsically different when isolated, and that external features, such as abnormal microstructure and altered flow may be the primary contributors in the accelerated calcification experienced by BAV patients.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the following sources—National Institute of Health (grant number grant numbers HL63954, HL103723 and HL73021 to R.C.G. and J.H.G.) and Moncrief Chair funds (M.S.S.). Help from Vanessa Aguilar in carrying out several of the experiments is greatly appreciated. American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship Award 14POST18720037 to A.A.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Aggarwal, Dr Ankush
• Authors: Aggarwal, A., Ferrari, G., Joyce, E., Daniels, M. J., Sainger, R., Gorman, J. H., Gorman, R., and Sacks, M. S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Infrastructure and Environment
• Journal Name: Annals of Biomedical Engineering
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 0090-6964
• ISSN (Online): 1573-9686
• Published Online: 01 February 2014