3 research outputs found
Elastin variations implicating in vascular smooth muscle cells phenotype in human tortuous arteries
The aim of the present work was to study the
morphological implications between the elastin and the
phenotypic expression of the vascular smooth muscle
cells. For this purpose, sixty human tortuous arteries
from different territories have been studied. We have
measured the morphometric indexes Intimal Thickening
Index and Elastolyse Index and they have been
quantified with computer system analysis, image-colour
corresponding to the orcein and Verhoeff reactions for
detecting elastin and the a-actin in the smooth muscle
cells. We compared both territorial arteries from the
cranial and from abdominal origin. The elastin
concentration was similar in both territories, but not its
morphology according to its spatial distribution. We
have observed a relationship between the elastin
structural organisation from the media of arteries and of
the internal elastic lamina in these territories and the
variation of reactivity to the smooth muscle a-actin as a
marker of the phenotypic state.
Our results confirm the hypothesis that elastin,
besides intervening in the architecture of the arterial
wall, is a factor implicated in the phenotypic variability
of the smooth muscle cells and in the development and
evolution of the intimal thickenings in human atherosclerosis
Morphometry of the human splenic artery, muscular columns, morphofunctional aspects and developmental implications
There is a paucity of studies in the literature
concerning the structural characteristics of the arterial
wall in the abdominal region using human material and
specialized morphometric techniques. In the present
study we carry out the morphometric study, describing a
series of structural peculiarities in 12 segments of the
human splenic artery. Among these the presence of
length-wise or spiral-shaped muscular columns in the
media1 layer which mark and reduce the diameter of the
arterial lumen is of major importance. In its underlying
intima small localized thickenings appear which, with
age may become generalized. We also analyze the
different intimal thickenings and such indices as the
Intimal Thickening Index, Lumen Reduction Index and
Pathologic Thickening Index, with differences among
the groups we have considered. The study of elastin in
the various parietal structures help us to understand the
possible pathogenesis of the thickenings, and to clarify
the important morphological-functional correlation for
the regulation of blood flow which exists in this arterial
region