Petersen W, Tillmann B
Department of Anatomy, Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, Germany.
Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 1999;7(1):42-50. doi: 10.1007/s001670050119.
Injection techniques, immunohistochemical (antibodies against laminin), and histochemical (5'-nucleotidase activity) methods were employed to describe the vascular pattern of the human posterior cruciate ligament (PCL); in parallel we used conventional light microscopy and immunohistochemical techniques to visualize the histological structure of the PCL. The blood supply of the PCL mainly arises from the middle geniculate artery. The ligament is covered by a synovial fold where the terminal branches of the middle geniculate artery form a periligamentous network. From the synovial sheath, the blood vessels penetrate the ligament in a horizontal direction and anastomose with a longitudinally orientated intraligamentous network. Within the ligament the blood vessels are located in the loose connective tissue that is sited between longitudinal fibre bundles. Histologically the longitudinal fibre bundles of the ligament consist of dense connective tissue. Lymphatics accompany most of the smaller blood vessels, showing similar regional distribution. Compared to the surrounding synovial layer, the amount of vessels in the substance of the ligament is lower. The distribution of blood vessels within the PCL is not homogenous: we detected three avascular areas within the ligament. Both fibrocartilaginous entheses of the PCL are devoid of blood vessels, and a third avascular zone is located in the central part of the middle third. The histological structure of this zone varies from the rest of the PCL which consists of the characteristic dense connective tissue. In the central part of the PCL the tissue resembles fibrocartilage: the cell shape is round, the pericellular matrix of those cells is rich in acid glycosaminoglycans and the immunohistochemical demonstration of type II collagen is positive. The occurrence of an avascular zone within the central part of the middle third of the PCL where the tissue consists of fibrocartilage has not been described in the literature.
采用注射技术、免疫组织化学方法（抗层粘连蛋白抗体）和组织化学方法（5'-核苷酸酶活性）来描述人后交叉韧带（PCL）的血管模式；同时，我们使用传统光学显微镜和免疫组织化学技术来观察PCL的组织结构。PCL的血液供应主要来自膝中动脉。韧带被滑膜皱襞覆盖，膝中动脉的终末分支在韧带周围形成一个血管网。血管从滑膜鞘水平穿入韧带，并与纵向排列的韧带内血管网吻合。在韧带内，血管位于纵向纤维束之间的疏松结缔组织中。从组织学上看，韧带的纵向纤维束由致密结缔组织组成。淋巴管伴随大多数较小的血管，显示出相似的区域分布。与周围的滑膜层相比，韧带实质内的血管数量较少。PCL内血管的分布并不均匀：我们在韧带内检测到三个无血管区域。PCL的两个纤维软骨附着部均无血管，第三个无血管区位于中1/3的中央部分。该区域的组织结构与PCL其余部分不同，PCL其余部分由典型的致密结缔组织组成。在PCL的中央部分，组织类似于纤维软骨：细胞呈圆形，这些细胞的细胞周基质富含酸性糖胺聚糖，II型胶原的免疫组织化学显示呈阳性。PCL中1/3中央部分存在一个无血管区，且该区域组织由纤维软骨组成，这在文献中尚未见报道。
