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A Detailed Explanation of the Distribution of Atherosclerosis in the Pelvic Cavity
Author(s) -
Khan Sameer Ahmad,
Savinova Olga,
Beatty Brian Lee
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.496.59
Subject(s) - medicine , tunica media , calcification , anatomy , external iliac artery , tunica intima , h&e stain , cadaver , pathology , stain , radiology , surgery , staining , carotid arteries
Atherosclerosis is an important indicator for future pathological conditions such as stroke, peripheral artery disease, and coronary ischemic events. Though it is known that atherosclerosis does not present in the systemic circulation evenly, detailed studies of many vascular regions are lacking. In this study, we analyze the atherosclerotic distribution present in the iliac arteries, an area of interest because of the known prevalence of ischemic events in lower extremities and pelvic area ‐ claudication, overactive bladder, and bladder pain syndrome. While hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain enables pathophysiological staging of atherosclerotic lesions, it does not illustrate the distribution of calcium deposition in a blood vessel due to low sensitivity and a lack of specificity for calcium. In this study we used alizarin red stain ‐ a histological stain specific for calcium – to increase the detection of calcium deposition in vascular tissues. We used ImageJ analysis to determine percent of alizarin red – positive area (as a measure of calcification) in 6 vessels from 25 cadavers. These vessels were common iliac, external iliac, posterior division on internal iliac, anterior division of internal iliac, superior gluteal, and inferior gluteal arteries. We observed a higher percentage of calcification in the tunica intima rather than the tunica media. We also found a correlation between the percentage of calcification in tunica intima in the common iliac and anterior divisions, as well as the common iliac and inferior gluteal arteries. In tunica media, we found correlation between calcification in the common iliac artery and all other vessels examined except the external iliac. Correlations were also found between medial arterial calcification in external iliac artery and all other vessels (except the common iliac). We found that there are three pairs of vessels, external iliac and posterior division, external iliac and superior gluteal, and external iliac and inferior gluteal arteries with significant medial layer calcification correlations within each subject. Each of these pairs of vessels are significantly far away from each other in the branching pattern. Though speculative, this data could be used in future pathophysiological studies of atherosclerosis both in the pelvic cavity and systemically. Support or Funding Information NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine Summer Research Program This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .