(C) Representative immunofluorescence microscopy (IF) staining of smooth muscle actin (red), denoted by white arrowheads, in aortic rootlesions shown at 10x magnification. IF images in (C) are representative of data quantified in (D) calculated from 3-6μm serial sections from animals in independent cohorts. Level of significance was determined using Kruskal-Wallace one-way ANOVA on ranks, *p=0.002 (D). 