Relationships among element contents in the intimal, middle, and external tunicae of the thoracic aorta.
To examine an accumulation of elements within the arteries with aging, the authors investigated the element contents in the intimal, middle, and external tunicae of the thoracic aorta. The subjects consisted of six men and four women, ranging in age from 57 to 99 yr. The wall of the thoracic aorta was separated into the intimal, middle, and external tunicae by scrubbing the wall of the thoracic aorta with an edge of slide glass and the element contents were determined by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. It was found that there were significant relationships among calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfur, and sodium in both the intimal and middle tunicae of the aorta, but not in the external tunica. These results revealed that no significant differences were found in element compositions of deposits between the intimal and middle tunicae.
Moriwake
Y
Y
Laboratory of Cell Biology, Department of Anatomy, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan.
Tohno
Y
Y
Tohno
S
S
Azuma
C
C
Minami
T
T
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry*; D004602:Elements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008274:Magnesium / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D013455:Sulfur / Q000032:analysis
D004602:Elements; D010758:Phosphorus; D013455:Sulfur; D008274:Magnesium