Hall C S, Nguyen C T, Scott M J, Lanza G M, Wickline S A
Washington University School of Medicine, and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
Ultrasound Med Biol. 2000 May;26(4):613-20. doi: 10.1016/s0301-5629(99)00165-9.
Elastic arteries consist of three primary components: elastin fibers, extracellular collagen matrix and smooth muscle cells. However, the relative contribution of elastin and collagen fibers to overall ultrasonic scattering from an intact arterial wall is poorly understood. To define the principal source of extracellular scattering from the medial layer of elastic arteries, canine ascending aortas (n = 10) were excised, fixed and sectioned for insonification. Subsequently, aortic specimens were restudied after treatment to dissolve all tissue components except extracellular collagen matrix (n = 5) and elastin fibers (n = 5). Histological staining revealed very few elastin fibers and sparse intact collagen in collagen-isolated and elastin-isolated tissues, respectively. Integrated backscatter, attenuation and backscatter coefficients differentiated these two treated tissues. The backscatter coefficient for elastin-isolated tissue demonstrated a fivefold increase over collagen-isolated tissue, suggesting that elastin fibers represent a primary scattering component within elastic arteries, and the collagen fibers may provide a secondary component of scattering.
弹性纤维、细胞外胶原基质和平滑肌细胞。然而，弹性纤维和胶原纤维对完整动脉壁整体超声散射的相对贡献尚不清楚。为了确定弹性动脉中层细胞外散射的主要来源，切除了犬的升主动脉（n = 10），进行固定和切片以便超声检查。随后，在处理溶解除细胞外胶原基质（n = 5）和弹性纤维（n = 5）之外的所有组织成分后，对主动脉标本进行重新研究。组织学染色显示，在胶原分离组织和弹性纤维分离组织中，分别仅有极少的弹性纤维和稀疏的完整胶原。积分背向散射、衰减和背向散射系数区分了这两种处理过的组织。弹性纤维分离组织的背向散射系数比胶原分离组织增加了五倍，这表明弹性纤维是弹性动脉内的主要散射成分，而胶原纤维可能提供次要的散射成分。
