A Comparative Study of Tunica Media of Some Arteries in Postnatal Rats
Fawiziah Khalaf Alharbi and Zeinab Zakaria SalehDepartment of Biology Science, College of Science and Arts, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia.
Corresponding Author E-mail: foz381@hotmail.com
Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the ultrastructural postnatal changes occurring inthe media of four different arteries. Twenty-five albino rats of both sexes of five different ages (oneday, one week, one month, adult & senile) were used for this study. From each rat, four arteries weredissected, basilar, renal, uterine and femoral for electron microscopic study.In one-day old rat arteriesthe media was formed of only one layer of smooth muscle cells which increased gradually in thickness with the advanced agetill reaching five to six layers in the adult rat arteries except in adultrat femoral which was formed of nearly 6-7 layers with apparent crowding of the cells. The media ofone day old arteries was formed of smooth muscle cells rich in cytoplasmic organelles mainlymitochondria,rough endoplasmic reticulum and poorly developed myofilaments. As age advanced,the cell organelles decreased in amount while the myofilaments increased in number and becamemore developed till the adult age in which the cell organelles were limited to only few perinuclearmitochondrial aggregates but with large amount of well- developed myofilaments. In the senile agethe smooth muscles became paler in color due to a decrease in the density of the myofilaments.Vacuoles started to appear of studied arteries at different ages but in all arteries, vacuoles increasedwith the advance of age and especially in senile age. External elastic lamina was apparent as early as the age of one day in both renal and femoral arteries, while it was apparent in the age of one weekin uterine artery. In the basilar artery, there was only basal lamina instead of external elasticlamina.
Keywords: perinuclearmitochondrial; myofilaments Back to TOC