Comparative studies on the chemistry and the metabolism of arterial and venous tissue.

Abstract

Comparative studies of the chemistry and metabolism of human and bovine arterial and venous tissue had the following results (values for bovine tissue in parenthesis): 1. In arterial tissue the contents of collagen were 21% (37%) and of elastin 20% (31%) referred to the dry weight. In veins collagen amounted to 47% (30%) and elastin to 7% (18%). The mucopolysaccharide concentration was higher in arterial (1.2 and 1.5 resp.) than in venous tissue (0.4 and 0.2% resp.). Hyaluronate, chondroitin 6-sulphate (chondroitin 4-sulphate), dermatan sulphate and heparan sulphate were identified. In arterial tissue chondroitin sulphate was predominant with 59 % and 49 % resp. In human venous tissue the main component was dermatan sulphate (65%), in bovine veins it was hyaluronate (75%). No dermatan sulphate was found in bovine venous tissue. The number of cells was higher in arteries (4.5 × 10<sup>7</sup> nuclei/g w. wt.) than in veins (2.8 × 10<sup>7</sup>). 2. On in vitro incubation bovine arterial tissue metabolized 73 %, venous tissue 32% of the added [U-<sup>I4</sup>C] glucose within 12 h. In this period 2.8 and 2.4 mg lactate resp./g wet tissue were formed by arteries and veins. The specific radioactivity of lactate synthesized in arterial tissue reached that of the added [U-<sup>I4</sup>C] glucose whereas lactate formed by veins had only 36 % of the specific activity of the [U-<sup>I4</sup>C] glucose. The specific radioactivity of the acid mucopolysaccharides was 5–6 times higher in venous tissue than in arterial tissue. After labelling with <sup>35</sup>S-sulphate a 3-fold higher specific radioactivity of venous sulphated mucopolysaccharides was observed. 3. After incubation of bovine venous tissue in the presence of <sup>I4</sup>C-acetate the specific radioactivity of phospholipids was 45 % higher than that of arterial tissue in contrast to a 50 % lower labelling of cholesterol in venous tissue.