Morphometry of skeletal muscle capillaries: the relationship between capillary ultrastructure and ageing in humans

Bigler, Marius Reto; Koutsantonis, Despina; Odriozola, Adolfo; Halm, Sebastian; Tschanz, Stefan A.; Zakrzewicz, Andreas; Weichert, Alexander; Baum, Oliver

doi:10.1111/apha.12709

Cited by 23 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…The peg-socket structures have thus far mostly been observed at the ultrastructural level in transmission or scanning electron microscopy analysis of animal tissues [13,14], but they also seem to form under in vitro conditions during pericyteendothelial cell co-culture [15]. However, at specialized sites, often located at the end of secondary processes, the pericyte and endothelial cell membranes come into close apposition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An important question related to both of these contact types is if one pericyte contacts one or more endothelial cells, thereby potentially integrating their functional behavior. The peg-socket structures have thus far mostly been observed at the ultrastructural level in transmission or scanning electron microscopy analysis of animal tissues [13,14], but they also seem to form under in vitro conditions during pericyteendothelial cell co-culture [15]. Little is, however, known about the physiological role of the peg-socket contacts, but it is an intriguing possibility that these structures harbor gap junctions and possibly also other moieties involved in contact-dependent ("juxtacrine") signaling [16] (Fig 1D).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Emerging links between cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases—a special role for pericytes

2019

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Neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases cause considerable human suffering, and therapy options for these two disease categories are limited or non-existing. It is an emerging notion that neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases are linked in several ways, and in this review, we discuss the current status regarding vascular dysregulation in neurodegenerative disease, and conversely, how cerebrovascular diseases are associated with central nervous system (CNS) degeneration and dysfunction. The emerging links between neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases are reviewed with a particular focus on pericytes-important cells that ensheath the endothelium in the microvasculature and which are pivotal for blood-brain barrier function and cerebral blood flow. Finally, we address how novel molecular and cellular insights into pericytes and other vascular cell types may open new avenues for diagnosis and therapy development for these important diseases.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging links between cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases—a special role for pericytes

2019

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“…Although other methodological approaches (e.g., isotropic uniform random [IUR] sampling/sectioning) may avoid such draw‐backs in data acquisition, we consider our approach as optimal for our investigation for several reasons: little need for sparsely available muscle tissue, use of the same ultrathin sections produced for the compartmental analysis as well as assessment of surface lengths and thicknesses of the various capillary endothelial layers (not possible with IUR sections). Tablet‐based image analysis (TBIA) was performed for the capillary morphometry as previously described (Bigler et al, ). The photo‐images of the capillaries were opened in ImageJ using a touch‐sensitive computer system (Surface Pro 2, Microsoft, Redmond, WA).…”

Section: Morphometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrastructure of Skeletal Muscles in Mice Lacking Muscle‐Specific VEGF Expression

Baum

Jentsch

Odriozola

et al. 2017

The Anatomical Record

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Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF) influences several physiological processes including endothelial cell function, angiogenesis and maintenance of organ/tissue capillarity. While the functional aspects of VEGF were vigorously investigated, only little detail is known on structural integrity of skeletal muscle fibers and capillaries in mice lacking VEGF expression in their muscles. Therefore, we assessed systematically the architecture of the glycolytic plantaris and the oxidative soleus muscles obtained from muscle-specific VEGF knockout (mVEGF-KO, n = 7) mice and their wild-type (WT, n = 7) littermates by morphometry after transmission electron microscopy. The capillary/fiber ratio was lower (plantaris: -63.5%; soleus: -54.8%; P ≤ 0.05) in mVEGF-KO mice than in WT mice. In plantaris, quantification of volume density (Vv) of compartments revealed higher Vv of total mitochondria (+56.5%, P ≤ 0.05) as well as higher Vv-values for both intrafibrillar (+39%; P ≤ 0.05) and subsarcolemmal (+220%; P ≤ 0.05) mitochondrial pools in mVEGF-KO mice than WT mice. The capillary phenotype also differed (P ≤ 0.05) between the two mouse-strains: Vv (-17.4%), absolute area size (-19.1%) and thickness (-19.6%) of the endothelium layer were lower and Vv of capillary lumen (+15.1%) was higher in mVEGF-KO mice than in WT littermates. In soleus, mitochondrial Vv in fibers and the structural indicators specific to the capillary phenotype exhibited the same tendency in differences between the mouse strains without reaching statistical significance. Our morphometric analysis demonstrates that the lower capillary supply in plantaris of mVEGF-KO mice is accompanied by higher mitochondrial Vv in muscle fibers as well as lumen dilation and endothelium thinning of capillaries. These structural alterations were more pronounced in a glycolytic than an oxidative muscle. Anat Rec, 300:2239-2249, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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“…However, when examining age‐related muscle loss one has to be aware of the fact that there are some difficulties in discriminating between age‐related physiological changes and disease‐related processes in physiology of humans. ROS metabolism in mitochondria is for example affected in a similar way by either diabetes mellitus or age‐related biochemical processes …”

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confidence: 99%

“…ROS metabolism in mitochondria is for example affected in a similar way by either diabetes mellitus or age-related biochemical processes. 7 Physical inactivity causes a decline in insulin sensitivity and a decrease in insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. This results in a reduction of muscle mass and increased obesity and often in the development of chronic diseases.…”

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confidence: 99%

Skeletal muscle in the fight against chronic diseases

Mrowka

Westphal

2018

Acta Physiologica

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Morphometry of skeletal muscle capillaries: the relationship between capillary ultrastructure and ageing in humans

Abstract: Our investigation demonstrates advancing senescence to be associated with increase in BM thickness and loss of EC and PC filopodia length in skeletal muscle capillaries.

Cited by 23 publications

References 44 publications

Emerging links between cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases—a special role for pericytes

Emerging links between cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases—a special role for pericytes

Ultrastructure of Skeletal Muscles in Mice Lacking Muscle‐Specific VEGF Expression

Skeletal muscle in the fight against chronic diseases

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