Pharmacologically Improved Contractility Protects Against Aortic Dissection in Mice With Disrupted Transforming Growth Factor-β Signaling Despite Compromised Extracellular Matrix Properties

Objective— Transforming growth factor-beta is a pleiotropic cytokine having diverse roles in vascular morphogenesis, homeostasis, and pathogenesis. Altered activity of and signaling through transforming growth factor-beta has been implicated in thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections, conditions characterized by a reduced structural integrity of the wall that associates with altered biomechanics and mechanobiology. We quantify and contrast the...