Confocal myography for the study of hypertensive vascular remodelling
Issue title: Selected Papers from 1st Meeting on “Cardiovascular Biology: Endothelial Cell in Health and Hypertension”, 30 June–1 July 2006, Prague, Czech Republic
Affiliations: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain | Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain | University of Glasgow, UK
Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. Silvia M. Arribas. Dpto. de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/Arzobispo Morcillo 2, 28029-Madrid, Spain. Tel.: +34 914975475; Fax: +34 914975478; E-mail: silvia.arribas@uam.es.
Note: [] Currently at Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia, Spain.
Note: [] Currently at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
Note: [] Currently at Universidad San Pablo CEU, Spain.
Abstract: Hypertension is associated with vascular structural alterations known as “vascular remodelling”, which initially are adaptive but in the long run, lead to vascular damage and loss of function. Despite decades of study, there is still modest information on the 3-dimensional (3D) arrangement of vascular cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) and how they change under pathological situations. To address this problem we developed a technique which combines fluorescence confocal microscopy, pressure myography and image analysis, “confocal myography”, which permits the study of intact resistance-sized vessels at cellular level and at physiological pressure. With the aid of this method, we have identified, in arteries from hypertensive rats, abnormal orientation of endothelial, smooth muscle cells (SMC) and elastic fibres; elongation and denudation of endothelial cells, and adventitial hypercellularity. Confocal myography offers a new approach to the study of vascular remodelling in intact small arteries from a 3D point of view.
