Morphology of the Pattern of Branching of the Aortic Arch in Syrian Hamsters (Mesocricetus Auratus)

The branching patterns of the aortic arches of 28 adult male and female Syrian hamsters (SH) were thoroughly examined under a stereomicroscope for the first time by using latex injection and corrosion casting to determine their general arrangements and morphological variations as well as their differences and similarities to other rodents and rabbits. Three major arteries, namely, the brachiocephalic trunk (BC), left common carotid artery (CC) and left subclavian artery (SA), originating from the aortic arch (AR), were uniformly noted in SH. The BC was consistently divided into the right SA and the right CA. SA in SH normally releases the internal thoracic, deep cervical, dorsal scapular, vertebral, superficial cervical and supreme intercostal arteries. The costocervical trunk typically consisted of supreme intercostal and internal thoracic arteries and a common trunk for dorsal scapular and deep cervical arteries. To comprehend the comparative morphology of the pattern of branching of AR more completely, our results were compared with previous studies in rodents and rabbits. (1) The general morphology of the great arteries from AR in SH was similar to that in mole rats, rats, mice, porcupines, and gerbils but was essentially different from that in rabbits, guinea pigs, red squirrels, ground squirrels, pacas and chinchillas. (2) The typical pattern of the branching of the subclavian arteries in SH was similar to that in guinea pigs, rats, and rabbits but was different from that of the reported rodents regardless of the origins of the bronchoesophageal and internal thoracic arteries and the composition of the costocervical trunk.

Combining Chromatographic, Rheological, and Mechanical Analysis to Study the Manufacturing Potential of Acrylic Blends into Polyacrylic Casts

Polyacrylics have been considered for a broad range of material applications, including coatings, dental applications, and adhesives. In this experimental study, the casting potential of a group of (co)monomers belonging to the acrylic family has been explored to enable a more sustainable use of these polymer materials in the medical and veterinary science field. The individual contributions of each comonomer have been analyzed, the reaction conversion has been studied via gas chromatography (GC), the rheological behavior has been characterized via stress-controlled measurements, and the final mechanical properties have been obtained from tensile, flexure, and impact tests. The GC results allow assessing the pot life and thus the working window of the casting process. For the rheological measurements, which start from low-viscous mixtures, a novel protocol has been introduced to obtain accurate absolute data. The rheological data reflect the time dependencies of the GC data but facilitate a more direct link with the macroscopic material data. Specifically, the steep increase in the viscosity with increasing reaction time for the methyl methacrylate (MMA)/ethylene glycol dimethyl methacrylate (EGDMA) case (2% crosslinker) allows maximizing several mechanical properties: the tensile/flexure modulus, the tensile/flexure stress at break, and the impact strength. This opens the pathway to more dedicated chemistry design for corrosion casting and polyacrylic material design in general.

Utility of a modified vascular corrosion casting technique in the diagnosis of fetal total anomalous pulmonary venous connection

Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC) is a rare congenital cardiac malformation, and prenatal detection of TAPVC malformation remains a challenging. TAPVC can be easily missed or misdiagnosed in prenatal examinations. This study was aimed to use the modified vascular corrosion casting technique to prepare fetal cardiovascular casts with TAPVC and investigate the utility of cardiovascular casting for the demonstration of fetal TAPVC. The retrospective study enrolled twenty fetuses (22 to 29 + 4 gestational weeks) with TAPVC diagnosed by prenatal echocardiography and casting technique from May 2015 to May 2020. Pre- and postnatal medical records, including results obtained by prenatal ultrasound, postpartum computed tomography angiography, as well as anatomic and cardiovascular casting findings were carefully reviewed and analyzed. In twenty cases, 80% (16/20) had intra- or extracardiac malformations. The TAPVC types were supracardiac (n = 8), cardiac (n = 6), infracardiac (n = 4), and mixed (n = 2). The diagnosis of 1 case each of supracardiac and cardiac TAPVC was modified to partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection; additionally, 4 malformations were missed and 2 were misdiagnosed, including an anomalous left brachiocephalic vein in supracardiac TAPVC, abnormal inflow of the hepatic vein and a double inferior vena cava in infracardiac TAPVC; and bilateral ductus arteriosus in infracardiac TAPVC; a tetralogy of Fallot in cardiac TAPVC that was corrected to right ventricular double outlet; and an absence of ductus arteriosus that was misdiagnosed as slim ductus arteriosus. Comparing with ultrasound, casting technique has its own superiority in exhibiting TAPVC abnormalities, especially in certain types such as course, origin and absence abnormalities of ductus. Postpartum cardiovascular casts can accurately depict the branch structure of the heart’s larger vessels, and may be used as a clinical assessment and teaching method in complex cardiac malformations.

Glabridin from licorice alleviates vascular inflammation and promotes vascular remodeling of the left anterior descending coronary artery in diabetic rat heart

IntroductionThe aim of this study was to investigate the effects of glabridin, on vascular inflammation and vascular remodeling of the left anterior descending artery in diabetic rat heartMaterial and methodsRats were divided into five groups. (1) control rats (C); (2) glabridin control rats (CGB); (3) diabetic rats (STZ); (4) diabetic rats received glabridin (STZ+GB) 40 mg/kg BW and (5) diabetic rats were treated with glyburide (STZ+GR) 4 mg/kg BW. After 8 weeks, the oxidative stress markers were carried out. LAD was examined by vascular corrosion casting. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was applied to determine the expression of VEGF and TGF-β secretions, as well as tumor necrotic factor (TNF-α) and interleukin-1 (IL-1β) proteins.ResultsThe lumen diameter of LAD was notably smaller and presented stenosis. LAD revealed arterial notch and evolved irregular caliber. Moreover, neovascularization emerged and was presented extensively. The Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacities, TEAC levels, of heart tissue were significantly decreased and levels of MDA were found to be elevated in STZ rats whereas they were improved in the STZ+GB group. Increased expressions of VEGF, TGF-β1, TNF-α, and IL-1β proteins in heart tissues were demonstrated in the STZ group. The inflammation cytokines were decreased in the STZ+GB group.ConclusionsThese results revealed that glabridin was able to reduce LAD damage. Glabridin can be an antioxidant and can reduce the pathology of the LAD in terms of reducing inflammation. It would be beneficial in examining the role of glabridin as a therapeutic aim in diabetes treatment research in coronary artery disease (CAD).

Variations and some clinically relevant relations of A. cystica in pigs - a corrosion cast study

The aim of this study was to investigate the variations as well as the length of A. cystica and its branches in pigs using corrosion casting method with the self-polymerising resin Duracryl® Plus. The method included several steps: hepatectomy, precasting treatment, injection of Duracryl, polymerisation of casting medium, corrosive treatment, cleaning of the corrosion casts, air-drying and preservation of casts. The livers were collected from 12 male 6-month-old pigs (crossbred Landrace×Danube White). With regards to the beginning of A. cystica, 4 variations were observed and grouped as follows: variation A  A. cystica detached from R. dexter medialis, together with R. quadratus (variation A1), or alone (variation A2); variation B1 – A. cystica originated from A. gastroduodenalis, or was a branch of the common trunk (R. dexter) (variation B2). The metric data were processed by GraphPad Prism 6 for Windows. Clinically relevant relations between А. сystica, Ductus cysticus, A. celiaca and R. sinister also were described. The new information re-ceived about the blood supply of the gallbladder would contribute to the understanding of the etiology of postoperative complications as a result of surgical interventions in this location and for their prevention.

Characterisation of microvessel blood velocity and segment length in the brain using multi-diffusion-time diffusion-weighted MRI

Multi-diffusion-time diffusion-weighted MRI can probe tissue microstructure, but the method has not been widely applied to the microvasculature. At long diffusion-times, blood flow in capillaries is in the diffusive regime, and signal attenuation is dependent on blood velocity ([Formula: see text]) and capillary segment length ([Formula: see text]). It is described by the pseudo-diffusion coefficient ([Formula: see text]) of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM). At shorter diffusion-times, blood flow is in the ballistic regime, and signal attenuation depends on [Formula: see text], and not [Formula: see text]. In theory, [Formula: see text] could be estimated using [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. In this study, we compare the accuracy and repeatability of three approaches to estimating [Formula: see text], and therefore [Formula: see text]: the IVIM ballistic model, the velocity autocorrelation model, and the ballistic approximation to the velocity autocorrelation model. Twenty-nine rat datasets from two strains were acquired at 7 T, with [Formula: see text]-values between 0 and 1000 smm−2 and diffusion times between 11.6 and 50 ms. Five rats were scanned twice to assess scan-rescan repeatability. Measurements of [Formula: see text] were validated using corrosion casting and micro-CT imaging. The ballistic approximation of the velocity autocorrelation model had lowest bias relative to corrosion cast estimates of [Formula: see text], and had highest repeatability.

Hierarchical imaging and computational analysis of three-dimensional vascular network architecture in the entire postnatal and adult mouse brain

ABSTRACTThe formation of new blood vessels and the establishment of vascular networks are crucial during brain development, in the adult healthy brain, as well as in various diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Here, we describe a method that enables hierarchical imaging and computational analysis of vascular networks in postnatal- and adult mouse brains. Resin-based vascular corrosion casting, scanning electron microscopy, synchrotron radiation and desktop µCT imaging, and computational network analysis are used. Combining these methods enables detailed visualization and quantification of the three-dimensional (3D) brain vasculature. Network features such as vascular volume fraction, branch point density, vessel diameter, - length, -tortuosity, and -directionality as well as extravascular distance can be obtained at any developmental stage from the early postnatal to the adult brain. Our method allows characterizing brain vascular networks separately for capillaries and non-capillaries.The entire protocol, from mouse perfusion to vessel network analysis, takes approximately 10 days.Online summaryThis protocol uses vascular corrosion casting, hierarchical synchrotron radiation µCT imaging, and computational image analysis to assess the three-dimensional vascular network architecture.