Ruhr University BochumJul 5 2024
Professor Daniela Wenzel, Head of the Department of Systems Physiology, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany The researchers succeeded in isolating only the endothelial cells of the aorta of healthy mice using a stamping technique under extreme cold. From these small samples, which only comprised around 350 individual cells, they could isolate and examine the RNA. They analyzed the gene activity at different sites of the aorta and compared the sites where aneurysms frequently form with those that don't show this tendency.
The researchers conclude that the sites where aneurysms frequently form are weak points from the outset. "We don't know exactly why this happens - perhaps it has to do with the mechanical conditions and the blood flow there, or perhaps the altered gene activity at these sites is inherited from birth," explains Daniela Wenzel. The latter seems plausible, as the aorta develops at different heights from different embryonic precursor cells.