Vascular patterns in the red and white muscles of the rabbit

Abstract

FIFTEEN FIGURES INTRODUCTIONThe contrasting patterns of the blood vessels in the red and white muscles were first studied by Ranvier (1874). He chose the semitendinosus and adductor magnus muscles of the rabbit as representatives of the red and white muscles respectively. He found the vascular disposition in the white muscle t o be of the classical type with rectangular meshes of the capillaries, while in the red muscle he found that the longitudinal capillaries were tortuous and that the transverse connections between them and venules presented sac-like dilatations. His histological studies of the structural differences between the red and white muscles were in agreement with the findings of Claude Bernard and Ray Lankester (1871) on the functional differences between these two types of muscle. Meyer (1875) extended and confirmed Ranvier's observations, whose work has since then been commonly cited in standard textbooks of anatomy and histology.In the next four decades, the vascular patterns in the muscle received less attention than the histology and chemistry of the contractile elements of red and white muscles (P e t r h , '36 ; P e t r h , Sjostrand and S y l v h , '36 ; Smith and Giovacchini, '51 ; Heroux and Pierre, '57). It was with the intention of re-examining the vascular patterns of red and white muscles from the morphological standpoint that the present investigation was carried out. MATERIAL Ah'D METHODSThe muscles were obtained from seventeen domestic rabbits of both sexes ranging in age from one month to two years and ten months. The red muscles (Craigie, '51) used were semitendinosus, soleus and tenuissimus (tensor fasciae cruris, Kerr, '55), and the white muscles used were adductor magnus, semimeinbranosus and gastrocnemius.The muscles from one adult rabbit were prepared for paraffin sections for a general histological study of muscle fibers and the intramuscular blood vessels. Another adult rabbit was injected with colored latex at a pressure of 240 mm Hg and then dissected for the purpose of tracing the source and distribution of the main vessels. The remaining rabbits were injected, under ether or chloroform anethesia, through the abdominal aorta after being perfused with warm saline with either 10% Higgin's India ink or 1.6% Prussian blue in 10% gelatin solution at 38°C. The pressure was kept constant during each injection, and ranged in multiples of the average blood pressure of the rabbit, 120 mm Hg (Doniinguez, '27; Rai, '31 ; Koch and Koller, '32), namely, 240 mm Hg, 360 mm Hg, 480 mm H g o r 600 mm Hg. The muscles of one of the ink-injected rabbits were treated with 3% KOH and rendered transparent in glycerin for the study of the patterns of vascular ramification. The gelatin-injected rabbits were treated by Ranvier's (1874) method, and the muscles of one of them were minutely dissected under a binocular microscope. VASCULAR PATTERNS I N MUSCLES 599Muscles for microscopic study were prepared for serial sections by the usual paraffin and celloidin methods. The fixatives used were 10% for...

Responsiveness of the Terminal Vascular Bed in Fast and Slow Skeletal Muscles to <i>α</i>-Adrenergic Stimulation

“…The architectural patterns of the microvasculature in slow and fast muscle in vivo tend to confirm the reports of histologists who have com pared fixed tissues [Lee, 1958;Smith and Giovacchini, 1954], The soleus, a muscle containing predominantly slow fibers, has a very extensive func tioning capillary network surrounding the muscle fibers. The small vessels are filled with red blood cells and thus, no doubt, add to the deep red color which is characteristic of this type of muscle.…”

Functional specializations of the vascular bed of soleus

“…It was Ranvier (1874) who first drew attention to the relatively closer spacing of arterioles and to the far greater capillary density within soleus, as compared with 'white' muscles, and who described curious sac-like dilatations at points where arterioles and capillaries branch. Lee (1958), in addition to confirming these observations, noted that the capillaries were very tortuous, and that the typical vascular pattern was even more pronounced in regions where the muscle fibres had more nuclei and sarcoplasm. The large number of parallel channels would thus provide the basis for the lower over-all resistance to flow in the muscle.…”

Capillary supply of the muscle fibre population in hindlimb muscles of the cat

“…This is in accordance with findings presented by e.g. Ranvier (1874), Stoel (1925), Lee (1958) and Romanul (1965). Similar findings were also reported by Andersen (1975), while Plyley and Groom (1975) stated that, the muscle fibre diameter was the only factor determinating the number of capillaries surrounding the fibre.…”