Saphenous Vein Vasa Vasorum as a Potential Target for Perivascular Fat-Derived Factors

Figures

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  Fig. 1. Presence of perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) in no-touch saphenous vein (SV) harvested for coronary artery bypass grafting. A) Part of a transverse section of SV with PVAT intact (fat stains black using the Marchi technique). A=adventitia; I-M=intima/media. Bar: 0.5 mm. B) Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) immunostaining of SV PVAT (*). Arrows indicate eNOS staining of capillaries. Bar: 50 µm. C) Capillaries in PVAT where the endothelium is identified by cluster of differentiation 31. Bar: 50 µm. D) Leptin immunostaining of SV PVAT. Bar: 50 µm. It is acknowledged that images are modified from own work: A and B) Dashwood et al.[12], 2007; C) Fernandez-Alfonso et al.[13], 2016; D) Dashwood et al.[14], 2011.

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  Fig. 2. Scanning electron microscopy examples of no-touch saphenous vein (NTSV) and conventionally harvested saphenous vein (CTSV) for CABG. A) In a transverse section, note a general architecture of NTSV showing lumen (Lu), intima (I), media (M), adventitia (A), and the intact cushion of surrounding tissue, much of which is perivascular adipose tissue (*). Bar: 1 mm. B) An en face view of an adventitial-medial (A-M) border of CTSV showing an exposed vasa vasorum blood vessel (bv). Bar: 50 µm. C) In CTSV, note that the vasa vasorum vessels together with a remnant of A are almost detached from M and exposed to the external environment. Bar: 50 µm. It is acknowledged that images are modified from own work: A) Dashwood et al.[36], 2004; B and C) Vasilakis et al.[37], 2004.

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  Fig. 3. Diagram shows variability of endothelium-dependent relaxation of human saphenous vein harvested by conventional (blue) and “no-touch” (red) techniques. Although there is no significant (NS) difference between grafts harvested by either of techniques, there is a tendency to increased relaxation properties of ‘no-touch’ grafts. The vein grafts (n = 13-14) were stretched to an internal diameter corresponding to a transmural pressure of 20 or 100 mmHg, pre-contracted with 10 µM serotonin, and exposed to 10 µM methacholine. It is acknowledged that this diagram is from the Open Access article Vestergaard et al.[44], 2018. PVT=perivascular tissue.