ENDOCRINE ORGANS AND LASER SCANNING CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY (LSCM) IMAGING: VASCULAR BED IN HUMAN SPLEEN

Abstract

This work was aimed to utilize the precise method of laser confocal microscopy (LSCM) to depict the image of spatial relationships of the vessel network in the tissue structures of the human spleen. With the use of serial paraffin or vibratome sections of more than 20 μm thickness infiltrated with eosin fluorescence dye the images of arterial and venous walls of different calibres, capillaries, and venous sinuses were morphologically revealed. Venous sinuses were frequently found to create mutually communicating branches and their lining projected into the lumen protruding cells with distinct spherically or ovally shaped nuclei, positioned on the brightly fluorescent and fragmented lamina basalis. The presence of lymphocytes was distinct in periarteriolar lymphoid sheath (PALS) and lymphatic follicles. Lining cells of the red pulp veins sporadically contained marked eosinophilic granules. The method of LSCM allowed: 1. to reveal two-dimensional and sharp image of the human spleen structures, 2. to investigate the vertical course of venous structures in the tissue, 3. to obtain serial optic sections in z axis to their maximum spatial projections. These data will also serve for the creation of three-dimensional images of vessel network in the human spleen in the future studies.