Summary
The architecture of the media of arterial vessels in dog brain was investigated using scanning electron microscopy. The arrangement and shape of the circularly-oriented smooth muscle cells varied with vessel diameter: The arteries (>100 μm in diameter) had 4–10 layers of spindle-shaped smooth muscle cells; the muscular arterioles (30–100 μm), 2–3 layers of spindle-shaped smooth muscle cells; the terminal arterioles (10–30 μm), a compact layer of spindle-shaped smooth muscle cells with more dominant nodular or rod-like processes and thin lateral processes; and the precapillary arterioles (5–15 μm), a less compact layer of branched smooth muscle cells.
Longitudinally-oriented muscles were observed in the medio-adventitial border. The distribution and arrangement of these muscles varied with vessel size: in the large arteries (> 300 μm in diameter), at the branching sites only; in the small arteries (100–300 μm), at both the branching and non-branching sites; in the muscular arterioles, at both the branching and non-branching sites in a reticular arrangement with some muscle cells having an “asteroid” appearance; in the terminal aterioles, only “asteroid-like” muscle cells were found at the branching and non-branching sites.
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Shiraishi, T., Sakaki, S. & Uehara, Y. Architecture of the media of the arterial vessels in the dog brain: A scanning electron-microscopic study. Cell Tissue Res. 243, 329–335 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00251048
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00251048