Department of Human Morphology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2-5-1, Shikata-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8558, Japan.
Microsc Microanal. 2013 Apr;19(2):406-14. doi: 10.1017/S1431927612014341. Epub 2013 Mar 4.
Most blood vessels contain elastin that provides the vessels with the resilience and flexibility necessary to control hemodynamics. Pathophysiological hemodynamic changes affect the remodeling of elastic components, but little is known about their structural properties. The present study was designed to elucidate, in detail, the three-dimensional (3D) architecture of delicate elastic fibers in small vessels, and to reveal their architectural pattern in a rat model. The fine vascular elastic components were observed by a newly developed scanning electron microscopy technique using a formic acid digestion with vascular casts. This method successfully visualized the 3D architecture of elastic fibers in small blood vessels, even arterioles and venules. The subendothelial elastic fibers in such small vessels assemble into a sheet of meshwork running longitudinally, while larger vessels have a higher density of mesh and thicker mesh fibers. The quantitative analysis revealed that arterioles had a wider range of mesh density than venules; the ratio of density to vessel size was higher than that in venules. The new method was useful for evaluating the subendothelial elastic fibers of small vessels and for demonstrating differences in the architecture of different types of vessels.
大多数血管中含有弹性蛋白，为血管提供了控制血液动力学所必需的弹性和柔韧性。病理生理学的血液动力学变化会影响弹性成分的重塑，但对于其结构特性知之甚少。本研究旨在详细阐明小血管中细小弹性纤维的三维（3D）结构，并揭示大鼠模型中它们的结构模式。通过一种新开发的扫描电子显微镜技术，使用血管铸型进行甲酸消化，观察精细的血管弹性成分。该方法成功地可视化了小血管中弹性纤维的 3D 结构，甚至包括小动脉和小静脉。这种小血管中的血管内膜下弹性纤维组装成一个沿纵轴运行的网状薄片，而较大的血管具有更高密度的网状结构和更厚的网状纤维。定量分析显示，小动脉的网状密度范围比小静脉更宽；密度与血管大小的比值高于小静脉。该新方法有助于评估小血管的血管内膜下弹性纤维，并证明不同类型血管的结构存在差异。
