Morphological characteristics and distribution pattern of the arterial vessels in human cerebral cortex: A scanning electron microscope study

Abstract

Background:The human cerebral cortex is supplied by vessels that arise from the pial arteries. These vessels give rise to a dense vascular network that is highly interconnected. Cortical arteries have been classified in different categories. Both their angioarchitectonic pattern and anatomical structures involved in their regulation are not fully understood.Methods: Twelve fresh human brains were studied by scanning electron microscopy of vascular corrosion casts.Results: Four types of arterial vessels in the cerebral cortex-short, middle, long, and transcortical-were identified. The cortical vascular network was formed by several interconnected clusters of vessels, which were arranged in four vascular layers parallel to the pial surface and characterized by different vascular densities. The greatest vascular density corresponded to the middle and deep vascular layers. Circular constrictions were found at the origin of cortical arteries and at their branching sites, probably related to vascular sphincters. Connections between cortical arteries were observed at their initial course. Plastic strips, occasionally related to constrictions, were observed around both middle and long cortical arteries. Other plastic structures, morphologically similar to pericytes, were found around capillary vessels.Conclusions: The blood supply to the human cerebral cortex depends on the short, middle, and long cortical arteries, which give rise to a highly anastomosed capillary network. There exist vascular connections between pial arteries and occasionally between cortical arteries. Blood flow autoregulation is probably mediated by smooth muscle cells at the arteriolar level and by pericytes at the capillary level, through endothelial connections. Anat. Rec. 251:87-96, 1998.

Scaling Laws for Branching Vessels of Human Cerebral Cortex

“…To extract a vascular tree, we identified its origin in the sulcus and traced all the paths from this origin through vessels in which resistance to flow is lower than a prescribed value 4 (see appendix A1). Arteries and veins were identified by their anatomical features 9 37 . Classically, arteries were characterized by their recurrent branches, which lend a candelabra‐like appearance to these vessels; veins are less numerous and their branches tend to enter the main trunk at right angles (Figure 2).…”

Neutrophil adhesion in brain capillaries contributes to cortical blood flow decreases and impaired memory function in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

“…The mean radius and length of each segment were rescaled by a factor of 1.1 to account for the shrinkage of the anatomical preparation. The main vascular trunks were identified manually and divided into arterioles and venules according to their morphological features, following Duvernoy's classification[55][56] . Following Lauwers et al22 and…”

Dose effect of sevoflurane and isoflurane anesthetics on cortical blood flow during controlled hypotension in the pig

“…Instead, there seemed to be considerable variability in the local flow as well as changes as a result of alterations in MAP. We attribute this to the high vascular heterogeneity of the cerebral cortex (8, 10, 18). A contributing factor may also be the method used (laser Doppler) (8, 11).…”

“…The lower limit of autoregulation is claimed to be ∼60 mmHg (9). Because of the heterogeneity of the distribution of the microvascular system in the cortex (10), we used laser Doppler perfusion imaging, which provides measurements of perfusion in defined areas of tissue (11). Using the advantage of this method, we were also specifically looking for local cortical CBF areas within the area examined, with possible hypoperfusion, i.e.…”