The lining of the valve plays an important role. It is very important whether the valve has two or three sheets.

Currently there is no way to prevent calcification of aortic valve. If everything else fails, the valve should be replaced. To better understand the development of this common disease, the researchers of Bochaum and Bon have kept a close watch on the defective valves. They were capable of showing endothelial cells that line tissue, playing a major role, as accompanied by other vascular diseases. Furthermore, they were able to see what happens depends on what the aortic valve has three sheets – as is usually the case – or just two. The team reports its findings in the journal of the American Heart Association on 25 June 2025.

Many people around the age of 60 experience a decline in physical performance due to aortic valve stenosis. In this case the heart valve, which is located between the left ventricle and the aorta, is calculated. This hinders the flow of blood from the heart to the body.

This disease is common; However, its growth is still considered bad. So there is no way to stop it at present. The heart valve needs to be replaced only when there is no other option. ,

Professor Daniella Venzel, Head of the Department of Physiology in the Faculty of Medicine, Ruhar University Bochum

Wenzel and their colleagues, who are part of the associate research center/Transgio 259 “aortic diseases”, want to go under the pathogenesis of the disease. They are specifically looking at the endothelium, which means single layer of cells that surround the aortic valve. “Among other things, these cells ensure that platelets do not follow and can not form clots,” Venzel says. “We know that endothelium also plays an important role in vascular diseases, such as arterial.”

A special stamping technique makes the exam possible

The research team developed a special technique to separate endothelial cells for the examination. He placed a defective human aortic valve, which has been removed during surgery, pressing a frozen stamp between the two glass slides and on it. This makes the endothelial cells freeze the glass slides, on one slide, the heart -faced cells, and the aorta on the other. Scientists can now examine the thin layer of cells in detail.

By staining cells, they can determine how permeable the endothelium is. The more permeable for protein from blood, the more diseased the endothelium is. He also examined the RNA produced by cells. This allows researchers to determine which genes are currently being expressed.

If there are three sheets then calcification is only one -sided

“Among those who have three leaflets in the aortic valve – which usually occur – you can see with the naked eye that calcification is mainly towards the aorta of the valve, not so much on the cardiac side,” Adrian Brandner, Doctorate Students and Prominent Author of the study. Staining analysis and RNA sequencing showed that on the aortic side, the endothelium was more permeable and expressed more genes that indicate calcification processes. Thus, the endothelium is clearly involved in the disease.

“But it was also interesting to note that it is quite different among those who have only two leaflets in the aortic valve,” the researcher says. People with this genetic tendency suffer from the first aortic valve stenosis in life. In these individuals, the endothelium on both sides of the valve is equally damaged, which means that it is permeable and affected by calcification. “The aortic valve stenosis in people with two sheets is therefore a very different disease than those with three sheets,” Brandner’s conclusion.

Researchers hope that their findings will contribute to the deeper understanding of the development of aortic valve stenosis. “It would be great, if one day, we can use the drug to use the drug when stenosis is just beginning and preventing the progression of the disease,” Wenzel is expected.

Cooperation partner

In addition to researchers at the Department of Physiology at the Department of System Physiology at the University of Ruhr University and Physiology I at Bon University, Researchers from the Department of Cardiac Surgery at the University Hospital Bonn were involved in the study.

Grant

The work was sponsored by the German Research Foundation as part of the Special Research Project SFB/TR 259.