Fig. 2: Pathological remodeling in AAA.

A The healthy aorta cell environment, with surrounding perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT), compared to (B) the aortic aneurysm environment, characterized by thrombi, infiltration of inflammatory cells, ECM degradation, vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotypic switching, apoptosis, excessive cytokine production, reactive oxygen species, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Reproduced with permission from Lu et al.11.