Quantitative Changes in the Size of Fenestrations of the Elastic Laminae of Sheep Thoracic Aorta Studied with SEM

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Abstract
The elastic laminae were extracted from thoracic aortas of 6 adult sheep by treating them in 0.1 N NaOH at 75.degree. C, and the surface of internal elastic lamina (IEL) was observed for windows by scanning electron microscopy. The fenestration analysis on IEL showed that mean diameters of the holes ranged from 0.46 .mu.m (.+-. 0.013 SEM [standard error of the mean]) to 1.35 .mu.m (.+-. 1.019 SEM), which is smaller than those of human cerebral arteries (7.0 .+-. 0.34 at the apex of the bifurcation and 2.1 .+-. 0.13 SEM .mu.m in the straight sections; [3]), and mean densities ranged from 6513-31,544/mm2. Both size and density of windows increased when the digestion time in the hot alkaline solution is increased from 1-3 h. Apparently, the IEL of the sheep thoracic aorta has smaller windows than human cerebral arteries and, because of the wall thickness, the thoracic aorta requires longer digestion times than human cerebral arteries.