The ultrastructural features that are critical to the efficient functioning of the blood-brain barrier (b-bb) were quantified in typical barrier vessels, i.e., cerebral gray and white matter capillaries, and compared with the same parameters in cerebral nonbarrier capillaries (area postrema), and in somatic capillaries, (muscle) of the mouse. The image analysis was done with the help of a simpl...

The mechanism of cancer cell deformation and migration in narrow vessels is incompletely understood. In order to visualize the cytoplasmic and nuclear dynamics of cells migrating in capillaries, red fluorescent protein was expressed in the cytoplasm, and green fluorescent protein, linked to histone H2B, was expressed in the nucleus of cancer cells. Immediately after the cells were injected in t...

NORMAL conjunctival vessels have been studied with the slit lamp by many observers, including Koeppe (1920-22), Vogt (1930-31), Graves (1934), Berliner (1943), and Meesmann (1927). The conjunctival vessels are capillaries, many of which are seen to be filled with red blood corpuscles; some of these capillaries are fairly large, but others are fine. These capillaries, containing one row of red b...

OBJECTIVE To describe and quantify the morphological characteristics of nailfold capillaries that distinguish different forms of connective tissue disease from healthy controls. METHODS A CCD video microscope with fibreoptic illumination and PC based image processing was used to visualise nailfold capillaries and to quantify findings in 23 patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), 22 patients w...

The three-dimensional vascular arrangement of the mammalian spleen was investigated by means of injection replica scanning electron microscopy. The vascular arrangement of the white pulp and marginal zone in the mammalian spleen was divided into two groups: (1) the rat and mouse type, and (2) the human and dog type. In the rat and mouse, (a) the central artery gave rise to numerous follicular c...

Capillary rarefaction occurs in many tissues in patients with essential hypertension and may contribute to an increased vascular resistance and impaired muscle metabolism. Rarefaction may be caused by a structural (anatomic) absence of capillaries, functional nonperfusion, or both. The aim of this study was to assess the extent of structural versus functional capillary rarefaction in the skin o...

To study the microvascular circulation, we examined the proportion of open and functioning capillaries in the leg muscles, pancreas and small intestine of anesthetized rats. Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled Lycopersicon esculentum lectin was injected into the heart and allowed to circulate for 3 min to label open and functioning capillaries. Specimens were removed, frozen, sectioned an...

The electrical resistance of consecutive segments of capillaries has been determined by a method in which the microvessels were treated as a leaky, infinite cable. A two-dimensional analytical model to describe the potential field in response to intracapillary current injection was formulated. The model allowed determination of the electrical resistance from four sets of data: the capillary rad...

OBJECTIVES To observe for changes in capillary morphology and architecture by tight sequential videocapillaroscopic (VCP) assessment in patients with dermatomyositis (DM) and systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS VCP examination was performed in 6 patients with DM and 9 with SSc, at baseline and after one month for three times. Four consecutive fields were examined bilaterally for any single fing...