Figure 1

Aortic diameter percent increases. Active porcine pancreatic elastase (APPE) exposed animals (black circles and solid lines) developed abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) by day 3 post APPE exposure, and AAA diameters continued to increase over the 14-day time period. Heat-inactivated PPE (IPPE) exposed animals (white circles, dashed lines) did not develop AAAs (defined as a >100% increase in aortic diameter compared to pretreatment measurements).