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Age-related changes of elements in human thoracic ducts and azygos veins and relationships among elements

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Abstract

To elucidate compositional changes of the thoracic duct with aging, the authors investigated age-related changes of elements in the thoracic ducts in comparison with the azygos veins. The subjects consisted of 22 men and 1 woman, ranging in age from 65 to 95 yr. After ordinary dissection, the thoracic ducts and azygos veins were resected from the subjects and element contents were determined by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. It was found that calcium appeared to increase in the thoracic duct with aging, but the other elements, such as phosphorus, sulfur, magnesium, iron, zinc, and sodium, did not change significantly with aging. In the azygos vein, both calcium and sulfur increased significantly with aging.

Regarding the relationship among elements, extremely significant direct correlations were found among calcium, phosphorus, sulfur, and magnesium in the thoracic ducts, except for phosphorus and magnesium contents with a very significant direct correlation. In the azygos veins, significant direct correlations were found between calcium and sulfur contents and between sulfur and magnesium contents. However, no significant correlations were found among calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium in the azygos veins. These results revealed that with regard to the relationship among calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium, the thoracic duct was similar to the arteries, but not to the azygos vein.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Cell Biology, Department of Anatomy, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, 634-8521, Nara, Japan

    Yoshiyuki Tohno, Setsuko Tohno, Cho Azuma, Yumi Moriwake & Yoshiaki Ohnishi

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, 634-8521, Nara, Japan

    Takashi Naganuma

  3. Laboratory of Environmental Biology, Department of Life Science, Faculty of Sciences and Engineering, Kinki University, Higashi-Osaka, 577-8521, Osaka, Japan

    Takeshi Minami

Authors
  1. Yoshiyuki Tohno
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  2. Setsuko Tohno
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  3. Cho Azuma
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  4. Yumi Moriwake
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  5. Takashi Naganuma
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  6. Yoshiaki Ohnishi
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  7. Takeshi Minami
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Tohno, Y., Tohno, S., Azuma, C. et al. Age-related changes of elements in human thoracic ducts and azygos veins and relationships among elements. Biol Trace Elem Res 96, 93–107 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1385/BTER:96:1-3:93

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/BTER:96:1-3:93

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