Characteristics of Blood Vessels Feeding the Femoral Head Liable to Osteonecrosis in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Abstract

In order to elucidate the cause of osteonecrosis of the femoral head in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs), which resembles the osteonecrosis of Perthes' disease, we observed the three-dimensional structure of vascular casts of the blood vessels feeding the femoral head using both optical and scanning electron microscopes. During the period of 9-15 weeks after birth, when osteonecrosis of the femoral heads in SHRs occurred frequently, the lateral epiphyseal vessels (LEVs), which were the main feeding vessels, entered from the lateral of the femoral heads. Anastomosing branches of LEVs between the epiphysis and the femoral neck were scarce even in the femoral heads showing normal ossification. It seemed that the development of LEVs in SHRs did not proceed normally in this period. Furthermore, remarkable segmental stenosis and the obstruction of LEVs were often recognized near the lateral of the femoral heads. These results suggest that LEVs in growing SHRs have the vascular structure that could cause an interruption of the blood supply to the femoral heads.

Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head of Laboratory Animals: The Lessons Learned from a Comparative Study of Osteonecrosis in Man and Experimental Animals

“…Not surprisingly, the incidence of osteonecrosis decreases with decreasing loads on the hip and with nutritional restriction, which is probably related to the rats' lower body weight, shorter femurs, and more advanced epiphyseal ossification. 21 , 24 , 28 , 62…”

“…Transphyseal bony bridges evolve in the aftermath of necrosis of the physeal cartilage, be it the outcome of a disease, trauma, or otherwise. 9 , 21 , 24 , 28 , 29 , 53 , 62…”

Simultaneous 3D visualization and quantification of murine bone and bone vasculature using micro‐computed tomography and vascular replica

“…The surrounding tissue and bone is then removed (corroded) and the resulting replica is dried, rendered conductive, and examined using SEM (Hodde and Nowell, 1980;Northover et al, 1980). In particular, VCC combined with SEM was applied for the study of the vasculature and the microvasculature of bones primarily in rats (Aharinejad et al, 1995;Hirano et al, 1996;Morini et al, 1999Morini et al, , 2006Okada et al, 2002;Pannarale et al, 1997;Stanka et al, 1991). While vascular corrosion casts represent the 3D architecture of the vascular network, SEM can only provide two-dimensional (2D) data.…”