Increase in the resistance of stenotic coronary segment by intravenous infusion of isoproterenol

Curantil intracarotid injection resulted in brain blood supply and in brain oxygen consumption increase as well as in redox processes normalization in 75 cats with main brain arteries occlusion and heart insufficiency induced by chemical necrosis of the myocardium. A single intravenous injection of a higher curantil dose resulted in a significantly less effect. Long-term (3-72 hours) curantil infusion led to the improvement of the functions disturbed (limb movements, speech, vision) in 32 of 42 patients with brain ischemic insult. The greatest therapeutic efficacy was observed in patients with nonobturated brain infarction induced by brain vascular spasm or cardiocerebral vascular insufficiency.     

A morphological study on the V2 segment of the vertebral artery

Morphometric investigations on the V2 segment of the vertebral artery, showed that, it did not have a constant calibre during its course within the foramina transversaria. The vertebral artery, entering the foramina transversaria reduced its calibre and further continued to reduce until C3 level, above C3 it began to reincrease its calibre and at C1 level reached its largest calibre. Measurements on the muscular thickness, showed an increase as ascending through the foramina transversaria. The widening and narrowing of the vertebral artery within the foramina transversaria was attributed as tortious artery or congenital anomaly. This study showed that it was the normal anatomy of the artery within the foramina transversaria.     

Microvascular architecture of hepatic metastases in a mouse model

Development of effective treatment for hepatic metastases can be initiated by a better understanding of tumour vasculature and blood supply. This study was designed to characterise the microvascular architecture of hepatic metastases and observe the source of contributory blood supply from the host. Metastases were induced in mice by an intrasplenic injection of colon carcinoma cells (10(6) cells/ml.) Vascularization of tumours was studied over a three week period by scanning electron microscopy of microvascular corrosion casts. Metastatic liver involvement was observed initially within a week post induction, as areas approximately 100 microns in diameter not perfused by the casting resin. On histology these spaces corresponded to tumour cell aggregates. The following weeks highlighted the angiogenesis phase of these tumours as they received a vascular supply from adjacent hepatic sinusoids. Direct sinusoidal supply of metastases was maintained throughout tumour growth. At the tumour periphery most sinusoids were compressed to form a sheath demarcating the tumour from the hepatic vasculature. No direct supply from the hepatic artery or the portal vein was observed. Dilated vessels termed vascular lakes dominated the complex microvascular architecture of the tumours, most tapering as they traversed towards the periphery. Four vascular branching patterns could be identified as true loops, bifurcations and trifurcations, spirals and capillary networks. The most significant observation in this study was the direct sinusoidal supply of metastases, together with the vascular lakes and the peripheral sinusoidal sheaths of the tumour microculature.     

Simulation of metabolic processes in human circulation: evaluation of pH value and CO2 balance

This article describes a model of the human circulatory system, with emphasis on metabolic processes in particular the calculation of CO2 balance and the pH of venous blood. The model overall is capable of simulating both physiological and pathological circulatory systems. Simulated parameters are locally distributed blood flows, and pressures in the arterial system. This modelling of haemodynamics serves, among other things, to determine the oxygen supply situation of individual organs. The four most important control mechanisms of the human circulatory system for maintaining haemodynamics--the renin-angiotensin system, the autonomic nervous system, local arterial autoregulation and vascular stress relaxation--have been incorporated into the model. Another important parameter for estimating the oxygen supply situation of the human body is the acid-base status of arterial and venous blood. The calculation of the pH of blood plasma and erythrocytes is described in the second part of the article. The results achieved with our simulation model correspond well with those reported in the literature. The behaviour of the human circulatory system can be reproduced at rest and under conditions of loading.     

Blood supply of the greater trochanter after trochanterotomy

The human vascular anatomy to the greater trochanter after a trochanterotomy (digastric, standard) was examined using injection techniques. Three major sources of blood supply to the greater trochanter were found: the proximal soft tissues, including the gluteus medius and minimus vascularized mainly from the internal iliac artery system; the distal soft tissues, including the vastus lateralis, vascularized from the descending branches of the lateral circumflex femoral artery; and a third possible source of blood circulation came from the transverse branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery. Many vascular structures from the lateral circumflex femoral artery were concentrated in the anterior half of the vastus lateralis muscle. Perfusion with a latex oxide mixture and angiography after trochanterotomy proves that by using a digastric trochanterotomy, the transverse and descending branches of the lateral circumflex femoral artery to the greater trochanter thus can be preserved. With a standard trochanterotomy, the supply from the transverse and descending branches of the lateral circumflex artery are lost. These results therefore suggest that a digastric trochanterotomy is superior to a standard trochanterotomy because the blood supply of the trochanter is preserved.     

Organization of the lamina propria mucosae of rat intestinal mucosa, with special reference to the subepithelial connective tissue

Light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy have been used to delineate the structure and function of the lamina propria mucosae in the rat jejunum. In silver-impregnated sections, the adepithelial surface of the lamina propria mucosae was framed by a sheet of reticular fibers (reticular sheet). Short-term (3-hour) immersion of jejunal tissues in 2 N NaOH solution enabled us to simultaneously view networks of reticular fibrils and fibroblasts residing in the subepithelial connective tissue under a scanning electron microscope. The reticular fibrils, which measured about 40 nm in diameter and were interwoven in dense networks, formed a sheet 2-3 microns thick. In the villi, this sheet contained numerous foramina ranging from 3 to 7 microns in diameter, through which lymphocytes, macrophages, basal extensions of epithelial cells and fat particles traversed. The reticular sheet in the domes of isolated lymphoid nodules was markedly porous, and many lymphocytes migrated into or out of the epithelium through the foramina. The formaina of the reticular sheet may participate in the communication between the intestinal epithelium and the lamina propria mucosae. It was noted that the foramina of the reticular sheet in the villi were surrounded by end feet of the cytoplasmic processes of fibroblasts. In addition, these fibroblasts were combined with lymphocytes or dendritic cells in the lamina propria mucosae.     

Calcium, magnesium, and potassium in hair of deer from areas of contrasting soil productivity

The endothelium, lining the inner surface of blood vessels, can be considered as the main local regulator of vascular wall homeostasis. It secretes various factors in response to mechanical and hormonal stimuli, which, in turn, influence smooth muscle cell contractility, vascular structure, blood fluidity, and other cell-to-cell interactions. Within the same species, there are, however, variations in endothelial cell function, depending not only on the vascular bed of origin, but also on the size of the vessel within the same vascular territory. Differences have been observed in phenotype, antigen expression, cell size and growth, secretory function, and G-protein expression. Furthermore, some pathological processes affect endothelial function selectively; that is, some vascular beds are sensitive to atherosclerosis while others are not. Understanding these distinctions is particularly important for a rational approach to the treatment of vascular disorders.     

Vascular anatomy of the ovine anterior cruciate ligament. A macroscopic, histological and radiographic study

Sheep are being extensively utilized in animal models for orthopaedic research, but the vascular anatomy of their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) has not yet been thoroughly described. This study demonstrates the blood supply to the ACL. Vascular injection with plastogen G, lead oxide and India ink was performed in 12 back limbs of Styrian mountain sheep, and gross observations, microradiography and routine histology were done. The large vessel and the microvascular anatomy are similar to those described for humans. The middle genicular artery and the descending genicular artery contribute vessels that supply the ACL. Epiligamentous vascular plexuses give off capillaries which penetrate the ligament substance and supply numerous, longitudinally oriented intraligamentous vessels. These findings make the Styrian mountain sheep a potential animal model for biologic investigations of ACL pathology.     

Radionuclide angiographic diagnosis of bronchopulmonary sequestration

Bronchopulmonary sequestration (BPS), a congenital malformation that usually presents as a chest mass in childhood, may be identified by its characteristic primary derivation of pulmonary blood supply from the systemic circulation. Five children with BPS were evaluated by radionuclide angiography from 1970 to 1974. In each instance the systemic origin of the vascular supply was correctly indicated. In those lesions where the artery originates below the hemidiaphragm, the aberrant source, when identified as such, provides a characteristic radionuclide appearance of BPS. The scimitar syndrome may be indistinguishable from BPS with this technique.     

Vascular supply of the unsheathed segment of the extensor tendons of the 2d to 5th fingers of the dorsum of the hand]

The dorsal approach to the metacarpal bones is through the peritendinous connective tissue of the extensor tendons. Knowledge of the vascular supply of the distal parts of these tendons, between the distal end of the tendon sheath and the tendon's osseous insertion is important, especially with respect to atraumatic technique. The course and distribution of the vessels to the extensor tendons II-V were investigated. Superficial and deep layers of connective tissue were found to contain blood vessels. The superficial vessels reach the dorsal aspect of the extensor tendon, originating from subcutaneous arteries and the large arteries of the hand. The deep vessels reach the lateropalmar aspect of the tendons and originate from the peritendinous muscular arteries. Vessel distribution suggests a direct relationship between the number of nourishing arteries and the tendon surface area. The vascular supply to the unsheathed parts of the extensor tendons shows morphological adaptations to differential mechanical stress during tendon excursion.     

Role of oxygen extraction from coronary blood in the regulation of oxygen transport to the myocardium

Experiments on anesthetized dogs were made to examine oxygen extraction from coronary blood during increase and decrease in cardiac rhythm frequency under varying conditions of vasomotor regulation. With an initially high tone of the coronary vessels both increase and reduction of myocardial oxygen supply occurred at the expense of vasomotor reactions. Under these conditions the coronary blood flow velocity and systolic rhythm correlated well. At the same time the oxygen level in coronary blood did not experience noticeable changes. As the initial tone of the coronary vessels dropped, vasomotor reactions were attenuated and oxygen extraction from coronary blood underwent alterations which had occurred prior to depletion of the coronary expanding reserves. The data obtained suggest that reduction of the initial tone of the coronary vessels proceeds non-uniformly, leading to a decrease in vascular sensitivity to the tissue oxygen level.     

Cogan syndrome associated with mesenteric vascular insufficiency

Nonsyphilitic interstitial keratitis and deafness was first described as a distinct entity by Cogan in 1945. For years thereafter, it was believed to involve only the ocular and aural systems. It is gradually becoming apparent that the syndrome can also include other organ systems by affecting their blood supply. A patient with diagnosed Cogan syndrome subsequently developed mesenteric vascular insufficiency that was surgically corrected. This report lends more support to the belief that nonsyphilitic interstitial keratitis with deafness is only one manifestation of a more generalized vascular disease.     

Angioarchitecture of the atrophic pancreas

The pancreas has a complex vasculature which comprises both exocrine and endocrine structures. Copper deficiency induces highly selective acinar cell degeneration and progressive noninflammatory lipomatosis in pancreas while Langerhans islets, ducts, and nerves remain unaffected. Pancreatic vasculature was examined in rats that had dietary copper deficiency to characterize changes in the angioarchitecture of the gland. This model was used to assess the degree to which the vasculature of non-acinar components of the gland are potentially altered under conditions of exocrine atrophy. Ultrastructure of pancreas was examined by histology, enzyme histochemistry and immunohistochemistry, corrosion casting and scanning electron microscopy, in situ vascular staining, microsphere injection, biochemical analysis, and morphometry in copper-deficient rats. Results show that no acute angiopathic changes indicative of vascular disorganization accompany atrophy. Only a reduction in the complexity of the capillary beds, which normally vascularize the dense acinar parenchyma, was found. Microsphere quantitation also showed that blood flow to the lipomatous gland remains intact. Furthermore, analysis of the angioarchitecture of the atrophied pancreas supports a largely autonomous blood supply to islets and ducts. These observations support the hypothesis that while the vasculature of the atrophied gland is modified in vascular regions severely targeted by acinar necrosis, the overall structural features of the angioarchitecture are preserved. The atrophied gland thus provides an experimental model to study the vascular routes supplying islet and ductal blood flow within the complex pancreatic circulation.     

Inhibition of phospholipase C gamma 1 activity by amentoflavone isolated from Selaginella tamariscina

A case of watershed infarction in the spinal cord is reported. The patient underwent bronchial artery embolization for control of massive hemoptysis. The bronchial arteriogram was carefully examined and focused on blood supply to the spinal cord prior to embolization. Acute paraparesis followed the embolization procedure even though there was no visible spinal supply on the arteriogram. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a hyperintensity lesion over the watershed region which is located at the central portion of the upper thoracic cord. This case is reported to emphasize the significant role which angiographically invisible small vessels can play in the blood supply to the spinal cord. The vascular system of the spinal cord and the prevention of spinal cord ischemia secondary to embolization are further discussed here.     

Frontal foramina in pediatric skull in cases of congenital hydrocephalus

PURPOSE: To describe a new observation, frontal calvarial foramina, in pediatric patients with congenital hydrocephalus secondary to central nervous system malformation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Frontal foramina were initially identified in three female patients with Chiari II malformation. Subsequently, head computed tomographic (CT) scans in 99 patients with congenital hydrocephalus were retrospectively reviewed. CT scans in a control group of 116 patients without hydrocephalus were also retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Frontal foramina were found in eight of 61 (13%) patients with Chiari II malformation, in one child with Dandy-Walker malformation, and in one child with occipital horn dilatation (colpocephaly), but not in control patients. Sequential CT examinations in three patients with frontal foramina depicted gradual closure after ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement. CONCLUSION: Frontal foramina may represent an abnormality variably expressed in certain central nervous system malformations that cause congenital hydrocephalus. The presence of frontal foramina palpated or visualized on plain radiographs may help in the diagnosis of congenital hydrocephalus and central nervous system malformation.     

Assessment of ischaemia of the distal part of the gracilis muscle during transposition for anal dynamic graciloplasty

BACKGROUND: Dynamic graciloplasty is used to create a neosphincter in patients with intractable faecal incontinence. When mobilizing the distal gracilis muscle from the upper leg, the minor vascular pedicles have to be ligated. This can interfere with the vascular supply in this part of the muscle. METHODS: The arterial anatomy within the muscle was visualized by means of angiography of 11 postmortem specimens. To quantify potential acute ischaemia, blood flow in the distal gracilis muscle was measured in ten patients with laser Doppler flowmetry during mobilization of the muscle. RESULTS: Angiography showed that the main vascular pedicle and all minor pedicles drain into one and the same arterial system. After clamping of the minor vascular pedicles, blood flow (mean 25.8 (range 6.5-74.3) perfusion units) did not differ from values obtained before clamping (mean 25.4 (range 7.5-68.7) perfusion units). After a mean of 1.8 years, all muscles were vital. No correlation existed between the change in muscle blood flow and either squeeze pressure (r = -0.2) or functional outcome (r = 0.31). CONCLUSION: This study provides direct anatomical and physiological evidence of one arterial system within the gracilis muscle. It is therefore questionable whether ligation of the minor vascular pedicles is the bottleneck in human dynamic graciloplasty. An additional operation for vascular delay may be redundant. A prospective randomized clinical study should be performed to compare the functional outcome in patients with and without a delay procedure.     

Three infants of diabetic mothers with malformations of left-right asymmetry--further evidence for the aetiological role of diabetes in this malformation spectrum

The contemporary literature has widely described the role of insufficiency of blood flow in glaucomatous damage. The paper presents the blood supply of the optic nerve head and the role of systemic and nocturnal hypotension, vasospasmus syndrome, carotide artery disease, location of the wathershed zone in relation to the optic disc and the effects of defective autoregulation of blood flow in glaucoma. The implications of vascular risk factors in glaucoma for its prognostics and management are discussed.     

The anatomical basis of the vascularized pronator quadratus pedicled bone graft

The vascular supply of the pronator quadratus was studied in 25 cadaveric dissections following coloured latex injections. This showed that the main blood supply of the pronator quadratus came from the anterior interosseous artery. There was, however, a rich anastomosis between the branches of the anterior interosseous artery and those of the radial and ulnar arteries. It was possible to raise a corticocancellous bone graft from the anterior surface of the radial styloid on a pedicle of the lower fibres of the pronator quadratus muscle. This muscle pedicle had a constant branch of the anterior interosseous artery which vascularized the bone graft. Such a vascularized pedicled bone graft may be useful in the treatment of non-union of the scaphoid and Kienb?ck's disease.     

The tumour stroma of oral squamous cell carcinomas show increased vascularity compared with adjacent host tissue

For tumours to grow they must acquire an adequate blood supply, and the use of drugs to inhibit tumour vascularization is one promising approach to anti-cancer therapy. Clear information is therefore required on the vascular architecture of human tumours and animal tumour models used for testing anti-angiogenic therapies. Many previous studies on animal tumour models have shown that carcinomas are least vascular in their centres and that host tissues become more vascular with proximity to the tumour. However, we have previously found that many human colorectal carcinomas do not show this pattern. The present study on human oral squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) again reveals significant differences. Paraffin sections from 24 SCCs were immunostained using the QBEnd-10 monoclonal antibody to demonstrate blood vessels, and these were quantified by interactive morphometry using a Kontron Videoplan system. In most carcinomas, viable tumour tissue was no less vascular in the tumour centre than in the tumour periphery. Although tumours are known to release angiogenic factors, viable tumour tissue was less vascular than adjacent host tissues. However, the tumour stroma, by itself, was more vascular than adjacent host tissues. Host tissue adjacent to tumour showed no obvious increase in vascular density with increasing proximity to the tumour edge, which suggests that tumour-released angiogenic factors are only effective over a short distance.     

Occult lumbar lateral spinal stenosis in neural foramina subjected to physiologic loading

PURPOSE: To measure the effect of extension, flexion, lateral bending, and axial rotation loads applied to the spine on the anatomic relationship of the spinal nerves in the neural foramen to the ligamentum flavum and the intervertebral disk, anc to determine the effect of disk degeneration on the response to loading. METHODS: Cadaveric lumbar motion segments were examined with CT and MR imaging, loaded with pure moment forces, frozen in situ, reexamined with CT, and sectioned with a cryomicrotome. The morphology of the intervertebral disks was classified on the basis of the appearance of the cryomicrotome sections. The neural foramina were classified as having no evident stenosis, as being stenotic, as having occult stenosis, or as showing resolved stenosis on the basis of the images and sections before and after loading. The stenotic and nonstenotic foramina were stratified by disk level, intervertebral disk classification, and type of loading applied. The effect of spinal level, disk type, and load type on the prevalence of stenosis was studied. RESULTS: On average, extension, flexion, lateral bending, and axial rotation resulted in the ligamentum flavum or intervertebral disk contacting or compressing the spinal nerve in 18% of the neural foramina. Extension loading produced the most cases of nerve root contact, and lateral bending produced the fewest cases. Each of the loading types resulted also in diminished contact between the spinal nerve and the intervertebral disk or ligamentum flavum in some cases. Disk degeneration significantly increased the prevalence of spinal stenosis. All foramina associated with advanced disk degeneration and half of the foramina associated with disks having radial tears of the annulus fibrosus either developed occult stenosis or were stenotic before loading. CONCLUSIONS: The study supports the concept of dynamic spinal stenosis; that is, intermittent stenosis of the neural foramina. Flexion, extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation significantly changed the anatomic relationships of the ligamentum flavum and intervertebral disk to the spinal nerve roots.