Structural organisation of tunica intima in the aorta of the goat
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Date
2010-08Author
Ogeng'o, Julius A
Malek, A A
Kiama, S G
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The structural organisation of tunica intima in the aorta is important for its
integrity, prediction, and diagnosis of atherosclerosis. The goat is a suitable
model for cardiovascular studies, but the structure of its tunica intima is scarcely
reported. This study, therefore, aimed to describe features of the goat aortic
tunica intima by light and transmission electron microscopy.
Sixteen healthy male domestic goats (capra hircus) aged between 6 and
24 months were used: 8 for light and 8 for electron microscopy. The animals
were euthanised with sodium pentabarbitone 20 mg/mL and fixed with 3%
phosphate buffered glutaraldehyde. For light microscopy, specimens from various
regions of the aorta were routinely processed for paraffin embedding and
7 mm sections stained with Mason’s trichrome. Those for transmission electron
microscopy were post fixed in osmium tetroxide, embedded in Durcupan, and
ultrathin sections stained with uranyl acetate and counter stained with lead
citrate.
Endothelium comprises round and squamous cells, linked to the subendothelial
material by a simple and sometimes lamellated basement membrane. In
the subendothelial zone, a heterogenous population of cells are connected
with interlinked collagen and elastic fibres. Both cells and fibres are connected
to the internal elastic lamina.
The composite structure and interlinkages in the tunica intima permit unitary
function and increase mechanical strength, thus enabling it to withstand
haemodynamic stress.
URI
http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/14408http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21154287
Citation
Folia Morphol. Vol. 69, No. 3, pp. 164–169Publisher
Department of Human Anatomy, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya