Fig. 1

Gal-3 is up-regulated in male VICs and AVs. Proteomic heatmap representing in red up-regulated proteins in men vs. women-derived VICs and in green down-regulated proteins (A). Levels of Gal-3 validated in VICs isolated from men and women AVs measured by WB (B) and ELISA (C). Levels of Gal-3 validated by ELISA in human AVs samples from males compared to females (D). Representative microphotographs immunostained for Gal-3 in AVs from men and women (E). Representative microphotographs double immunostained for Gal-3 and α-SMA (F), vimentin (G), CD31 (H) and VE-cadherin (I). Gal-3 galectin-3, CD31 cluster differentiation 31, SMA smooth muscle actin. N = 108 for men and N = 83 for women for AVs and N = 20 for men and N = 24 for women for VICs. *p < 0.05 vs men, **p < 0.01 vs men