Coronary arterial dimensions and cell populations in ageing man.
A combined computerised morphometric and immunocytochemical study on the ageing human coronary arterial wall shows that dilatation of the vessel is related to age but is less related to the degree of atherosclerosis. Loss of medial smooth muscle is not related to either atherosclerosis or dilatation of the artery. Occasional cases with severe medial and adventitial infiltrates of inflammatory cells (mainly T-cells and macrophages) do develop marked ectasia, but this arteritis is rather rare and, thus, an infrequent cause of dilatation.
Keohane
S G
SG
Division of Histopathology, United Medical School of Guy's Hospital, London University, U.K.
Adams
C W
CW
Poston
R N
RN
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology