Cytoarchitecture of the smooth muscles and pericytes of rat cerebral blood vessels. A scanning electron microscopic study

The three-dimensional cytoarchitecture of the smooth muscles and pericytes of rat cerebral blood vessels was studied by scanning electron microscopy after removing extracellular connective tissue matrices with the KOH-collagenase digestion method. The tunica media of major intracranial arteries such...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of neurosurgery Vol. 73; no. 1; p. 82
Main Authors Ushiwata, I, Ushiki, T
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.07.1990
Subjects
Animals
Arterioles - cytology
Basement Membrane
Capillaries - cytology
Cerebral Arteries - cytology
Cerebral Veins - cytology
Hydroxides
Male
Microbial Collagenase
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning - methods
Muscle, Smooth, Vascular - cytology
Potassium
Potassium Compounds
Rats
Rats, Inbred Strains
Venules - cytology
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Summary:The three-dimensional cytoarchitecture of the smooth muscles and pericytes of rat cerebral blood vessels was studied by scanning electron microscopy after removing extracellular connective tissue matrices with the KOH-collagenase digestion method. The tunica media of major intracranial arteries such as the internal carotid, vertebral, basilar, and other cerebral arteries measuring more than 100 microns in outer diameter consisted of spindle-shaped smooth-muscle cells arranged circularly to the long axis of the vessel. Muscle cells at the branching points, however, showed a variety of shapes, sizes, and arrangements. As the vessel size decreased, smooth-muscle cells showed bi- or trifurcations at the cell poles. In the precapillary arterioles, smooth-muscle cells which had helically surrounded the endothelial tubes had bulging cell bodies with various cytoplasmic processes extending from the cell poles. Distinct specializations presumed to be sphincters were not found on the arteries or arterioles. Pericytes of the capillary had become extended along the vessel axis, having fusiform cell bodies with longitudinally oriented long cytoplasmic processes. Cells located periendothelially in the venules and veins were stellate in shape with many cytoplasmic processes which were interwoven to form complicated cellular networks around the endothelial tube.
ISSN:0022-3085
DOI:10.3171/jns.1990.73.1.0082