Korean J Anat.  2001 Jun;34(3):275-283.

he Changes of the Basilar Artery Following Experimental Cerebral Subarachnoidal Hemorrhage

• Park IS
• Kim JT

Abstract

The cerebral artery spasm is a phenomenon frequently present in cases of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Previous reports indicated that vasospasm could be produced primarily by muscle contraction and constricted vessels that exhibit myonecrosis and subendothelial changes. Pharmacological studies have shown that vasospastic arteries decrease in contractility but increase the spontaneous tone and stiffness compared to normal cerebral arteries. We carried out electron microscopic to observe the morphological changes of the basilar artery following the experimental SAH. We examined changes in the size of the lumen and thickness of the basilar artery in SAH. Morphological changes of cerebral basilar artery following SAH : (1) The size of the lumen of basilar artery decreased about 47%, while its thickness increased about 170%. (2) The shape of the endothelial cell transformed to a cuboidal type and its thickness increased, while the length of the smooth muscle cell shortened and the thickness increased.

Keyword

Basilar Artery; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (SAH); Ultrastructure

MeSH Terms

Arteries
Basilar Artery*
Cerebral Arteries
Endothelial Cells
Hemorrhage*
Muscle Contraction
Myocytes, Smooth Muscle
Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
Vasospasm, Intracranial