© 2000 by European Society of Cardiology
Copyright © 2000, European Society of Cardiology
Endogenous factors involved in regulation of tone of arterial vasa vasorum: implications for conduit vessel physiology
Centre for Clinical Pharmacology, University College London, The Rayne Institute, 5 University St., London WC1E 6JJ, UK
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +44-171-209-6606; fax: +44-171-209-6212 r.scotland{at}ucl.ac.uk
The walls of conduit blood vessels are nourished by diffusion of oxygen from luminal blood and from the vasa vasorum. The vasa vasorum, or vessels of a vessel, form a network of microvessels that lie in the adventitia and penetrate the outer media of the host vessel wall. Although the importance of the vasa vasorum in providing nutritional support is not well defined, obstruction of blood flow through these vessels has been implicated in the pathogenesis of certain cardiovascular diseases including atherosclerosis. This review focuses on the mechanisms that regulate tone in the vasa vasorum of large arteries and the functional implications of changes in reactivity of vasa vasorum.
KEYWORDS Arteries; Atherosclerosis; Blood flow; Capillaries; Restenosis