Elsevier

Human Pathology

Volume 18, Issue 10, October 1987, Pages 1036-1042
Human Pathology

Neovascularization and coronary atherosclerotic plaque: Cinematographic localization and quantitative histologic analysis**

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0046-8177(87)80220-4Get rights and content

A new technique was developed for analyzing the neovascularization associated with coronary artery atherosclerosis: cinematography during silicone polymer injection of the coronary arteries of fixed and cleared human hearts, followed by histologic analysis in routine and 1-μm-thick, Epon-embedded sections. Twenty-two hearts obtained at autopsy were studied. On the basis of cinematographic findings, individual regions of the coronary arteries were classified as negative, positive, or abundantly positive for neovascularization. Positive and abundantly positive areas, which invariably occurred in segments exhibiting changes of a therosclerosis, contained numerous small vessels in the adventitia and outer media (4.7±1.5 and 9.8±1.3 [SE] vessel profiles/artery cross-section in positive and abundantly positive areas, versus 1.0±0.6 in negative regions). Abundantly positive areas, which occurred in coronary artery segments demonstrating the most extensive atherosclerotic change, contained numerous small vessels in the inner media or in the plaque itself. Some of these microvessels were in close proximity to mast cells, which represent potentially rich sources of mediators affecting vascular tone and permeability. Vessels were not observed in the inner media or in atherosclerotic plaque in areas designated either positive or negative by cinematography. These findings show how our approach can be used both to define the three-dimensional, in situ configuration of coronary artery neovascularization and to characterize the histology of this process in detail. They also confirm previous work indicating that areas of coronary arteries involved by atherosclerosis frequently exhibit extensive neovascularization.

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**

Supported by grants HL 02493, HL 31632, HL 19467, and AI 22674 from the US Public Health Service; and by gifts from R.J.R. Nabisco and SmithKline Beckman Corporation.

*

from the Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

Charles A. Dana Research Institute, Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

§

from the Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

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