The microvascular architecture of the rabbit stomach corpus in vascular corrosion casts.

The blood vessels of the rabbit gastric mucosa were reproduced with a methacrylate casting medium and observed in a scanning electron microscope. The submucosal arteries gave off short and long arterioles. The short arterioles connected at the base of the fundic glands with the capillary network surrounding the glands. The long arterioles ascended along the glands and supplied the capillary network beneath the surface epithelium. This capillary network was denser than the capillary network around the glands. In the glandular neck region, there were many capillary connections between the surface epithelial and glandular capillary systems, but both of these capillary networks drained into common venules which descended along the glands and emptied into the submucosal veins. The isolated arterial supply of the surface mucous cell layer may assure enough blood circulation in this layer for the surface mucous cells to produce a sufficient amount of HCl-resistant mucous or to protect the epithelium against the acid in the gastric lumen.