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Figure 4 | Respiratory Research

Figure 4

From: Hypoxic vasoconstriction of partial muscular intra-acinar pulmonary arteries in murine precision cut lung slices

Figure 4

HPV of a partial muscular intra-acinar artery. All panels (A)-(I) refer to the same intra-acinar artery. (A) Employing phase contrast optics the cross section of an intra-acinar artery was localized in a PLCS. The vessel responded to U46619 (U) with vasoconstriction (B), which was reversed by washing the PCLS with normoxic gassed medium (flow rate 6 ml/min) and application of Nipruss. The NO donor was removed by a normoxic wash followed by exposure to normoxic gassed medium (flow rate 0.7 ml/min) (C). Perfusion with hypoxic gassed medium induced constriction of the vessel (D) which was abolished by washing the PCLS with normoxic gassed medium (E). At the end of the experiment, the viability of the artery was validated by application of U46619 (F). (I) Changes in the luminal areas are expressed as relative values, setting the luminal area at the beginning of the experiment as 100%. Time points for which original micrographs are presented in panels A-F are indicated in the curve. U = U46619; W = wash; Ni = Nipruss; No = normoxia. After completion of the videomorphometric experiment, the PLCS was stained for αSMA, and the vessel from which luminal diameters were recorded was reidentified (G, H). Conventional epifluorescence microscopy (G) of the 200 μm thick PCLS suggests the presence of a continuous αSMA-immunoreactive muscular coat, but CLSM analysis and three-dimensional reconstruction of the course of this vessel within the PCLS clearly depicts the discontinuous, spiral arrangement of αSMA-immunoreactive smooth muscle cells. Bars = 20 μm.

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