Tissue arrangement in the internal elastic lamina of the rat muscular pulmonary artery.
The arrangement of tissue in the internal elastic lamina of muscular pulmonary arteries in rats has been studied. It consists of long plates of elastic tissue joined to each other by side branches, thus forming a continuous branching network. The thick plates are orientated parallel to the long axis of the vessel. This is similar to the arrangement in the saphenous and splenic veins in the dog. Systemic arteries show a different arrangement, usually a single fenestrated sheet. The differences between systemic and pulmonary arteries can be explained by considering the different biomechanical forces acting on them.
Department of Histopathology, University Hospital, Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, U.K.
M J
MJ
Wilkinson
T
T
Gray
D000818:Animals; D003094:Collagen; D003285:Contractile Proteins; D004547:Elastic Tissue / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D000072260:RNA Splicing Factors; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D003285:Contractile Proteins; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D000072260:RNA Splicing Factors; C016598:microfibrillar protein; D003094:Collagen