Age-related changes of elements in thoracic and abdominal aortas and coronary, common carotid, pulmonary, splenic, common iliac, and uterine arteries and relationships in elements among their arteries.

To elucidate whether the accumulation of elements occurred simultaneously in the various arteries with aging, the authors investigated age-related changes of elements in the eight arteries, such as the thoracic and abdominal aortas and the coronary, common carotid, pulmonary, splenic, common iliac, and uterine arteries, and the relationships in the element contents among their arteries. After ordinary dissection by medical students was finished, the thoracic and abdominal aortas and the coronary, common carotid, pulmonary, splenic, common iliac, and uterine arteries were resected from the subjects, who ranged in age from 58 to 94 yr. The element contents were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. It was found that the accumulation of Ca was the highest in the common iliac artery and decreased in the order of the uterine artery, abdominal aorta, coronary artery, thoracic aorta, splenic artery, common carotid artery, and pulmonary artery. Regarding the relationships in the element contents among the eight arteries, it was found that there were significant direct correlations in the contents of Ca, P, Mg, Zn, Fe, and Na between the coronary and splenic arteries, and there were significant correlations in the contents of Ca, P, and Mg between the abdominal aorta and pulmonary artery.