Proliferation of Smooth Muscle Cells in the Tunica Intima of Cerebral Vessels in Familial Amyloidotic Polyneuropathy Attr Y114c

Drainage of interstitial fluid from the brain occurs via the intramural periarterial drainage (IPAD) pathways along the basement membranes of cerebral capillaries and arteries against the direction of blood flow into the brain. The cerebrovascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) provide the motive force for driving IPAD, and their decrease in function may explain the deposition of amyloid-beta as cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), a key feature of Alzheimer’s disease. The α-adrenoceptor subtype α1A is abundant in the brain, but its distribution in the cerebral vessels is unclear. We analysed cultured human cerebrovascular SMCs and young, old and CAA human brains for (a) the presence of α1A receptor and (b) the distribution of the α1A receptor within the cerebral vessels. The α1A receptor was present on the wall of cerebrovascular SMCs. No significant changes were observed in the vascular expression of the α1A-adrenergic receptor in young, old and CAA cases. The pattern of vascular staining appeared less punctate and more diffuse with ageing and CAA. Our results show that the α1A-adrenergic receptor is preserved in cerebral vessels with ageing and in CAA and is expressed on cerebrovascular smooth muscle cells, suggesting that vascular adrenergic receptors may hold potential for therapeutic targeting of IPAD.

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Pathogenesis of atherosclerosis in the tunica intima, media, and adventitia of coronary arteries: An updated review

Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences ◽

10.17305/bjbms.2019.4320 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Aleksandra Milutinović ◽

Dušan Šuput ◽

Ruda Zorc-Pleskovič

Keyword(s):

Endothelial Cells ◽

Smooth Muscle ◽

Smooth Muscle Cells ◽

Coronary Arteries ◽

Muscle Cells ◽

Chronic Inflammatory Disease ◽

Elastic Membrane ◽

Atherosclerotic Plaques ◽

Perivascular Adipose Tissue ◽

Tunica Intima

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of arteries and it affects the structure and function of all three layers of the coronary artery wall. Current theories suggest that the dysfunction of endothelial cells is one of the initial steps in the development of atherosclerosis. The view that the tunica intima normally consists of a single layer of endothelial cells attached to the subendothelial layer and internal elastic membrane has been questioned in recent years. The structure of intima changes with age and it becomes multilayered due to migration of smooth muscle cells from the media to intima. At this stage, the migration and proliferation of smooth muscle cells do not cause pathological changes in the intima. The multilayering of intima is classically considered to be an important stage in the development of atherosclerosis, but in fact atherosclerotic plaques develop only focally due to the interplay of various processes that involve the resident and invading inflammatory cells. The tunica media consists of multiple layers of smooth muscle cells that produce the extracellular matrix, and this layer normally does not contain microvessels. During the development of atherosclerosis, the microvessels from the tunica adventitia or from the lumen may penetrate thickened media to provide nutrition and oxygenation. According to some theories, the endothelial dysfunction of these nutritive vessels may significantly contribute to the atherosclerosis of coronary arteries. The adventitia contains fibroblasts, progenitor cells, immune cells, microvessels, and adrenergic nerves. The degree of inflammatory cell infiltration into the adventitia, which can lead to the formation of tertiary lymphoid organs, correlates with the severity of atherosclerotic plaques. Coronary arteries are surrounded by perivascular adipose tissue that also participates in the atherosclerotic process.

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Immunogold localization of HMB-45 antigen in pulmonary lymphangiomyomatosis

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100141366 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 53 ◽

pp. 998-999

Author(s):

J.M. Minda ◽

E. Dessy ◽

G. G. Pietra

Keyword(s):

Smooth Muscle ◽

Smooth Muscle Cells ◽

Room Temperature ◽

Osmium Tetroxide ◽

Muscle Cells ◽

Ultrastructural Localization ◽

Reproductive Age ◽

Thin Sections ◽

Smooth Muscle Proliferation ◽

Hmb 45

Pulmonary lymphangiomyomatosis (PLAM) is a rare disease occurring exclusively in women of reproductive age. It involves the lungs, lymph nodes and lymphatic ducts. In the lungs, it is characterized by the proliferation of smooth muscle cells around lymphatics in the bronchovascular bundles, lobular septa and pleura The nature of smooth muscle proliferation in PLAM is still unclear. Recently, reactivity of the smooth muscle cells for HMB-45, a melanoma-related antigen has been reported by immunohistochemistry. The purpose of this study was the ultrastructural localization of HMB-45 immunoreactivity in these cells using gold-labeled antibodies.Lung tissue from three cases of PLAM, referred to our Institution for lung transplantation, was embedded in either Poly/Bed 812 post-fixed in 1% osmium tetroxide, or in LR White, without osmication. For the immunogold technique, thin sections were placed on Nickel grids and incubated with affinity purified, monoclonal anti-melanoma antibody HMB-45 (1:1) (Enzo Diag. Co) overnight at 4°C. After extensive washing with PBS, grids were treated with Goat-anti-mouse-IgG-Gold (5nm) (1:10) (Amersham Life Sci) for 1 hour, at room temperature.

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