Fig. 5

Quantification of complement in sheep serum pre and post valve-implantation- a. The serum C1q concentration preoperatively was 2.5 ± 0.2 IU/mL, which rose to an average of 5.3 ± 0.3 IU/mL after valve implantation (p = 0.00007). b. Serum C1q concentrations are shown at each postoperative time point. At 1 week, C1q concentrations were 4.6 ± 0.3 IU/mL (p = 0.0008, compared to preoperative concentrations) and reached their peak at 1 month (6.4 ± 0.4 IU/mL, p = 0.005). Two months postoperative C1q concentrations were 4.9 ± 0.7 IU/mL (p = 0.02). Oneweek and 1 month concentrations were also different from one another (p = 0.03)