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Clusters of proliferating endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells in rabbit carotid arteries
Author(s) -
Takahashi Masato,
Masuda Hirotake,
Yoshida Makoto,
Ito Yukinobu,
Nanjo Hiroshi,
Sugiyama Tatsuo,
Maeda Daichi,
Goto Akiteru
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
pathology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1827
pISSN - 1320-5463
DOI - 10.1111/pin.12348
Subject(s) - mitosis , immunostaining , pathology , cell , vascular smooth muscle , cell division , endothelium , biology , immunohistochemistry , smooth muscle , anatomy , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , endocrinology , genetics
S chwarz and B enditt found clustering of replicating cells in aortic endothelium in 1976 and discussed how homeostasis of the arterial wall is maintained through this nonrandom distribution of replicating cells. However, it is still unclear how cells of vascular walls turnover. In order to address this issue, we evaluated distribution of the cells in mitotic cycle, labeled by K i67‐immunostaining, in serial histological sections of twelve carotid arteries of six adult male J apanese rabbits. As a result, a total of 1713 K i67‐positive endothelial cells ( ECs ) and 1247 K i67‐positive smooth muscle cells ( SMCs ) were identified. The K i67‐positivity rate in ECs and SMCs were about 0.048% and 0.0027%, respectively. Many of the K i67‐positive cells clustered in two ( EC , 37%; SMC , 33%), three to four ( EC , 8%; SMC , 28%), and five to eight cells ( EC , 5%; SMC , 10%). Clusters having more than eight cells were not found. Thus, it can be speculated that the cell division of proliferating ECs and SMCs occur four times at most. These novel findings offer great insights for better understanding of the mechanism that underlies cell number regulation of the blood vessel.