大腿骨頭の成長軟骨帯に侵入する微小血管構造の成長にともなう変化

Abstract

We investigated structural changes in blood vessels invading the growth plate during growth. Rat femoral heads comprising vascular casts were observed using an optical microscope and a scanning electron mocroscope. Narrowing of the growth plate thickness was accompanied histologically with a decrease in bone trabeculae in the primary spongiosa after the epiphyseal nucleus appeared in the femoral heads. Tips of the vascular casts terminated in the chondrocyte cavities of the deepest part of the hypertrophic zone. Scanning electron microscope showed that blood vessels invading the growth plate had long sinus structures with bulbous ends. The density of the blood vessel invasion declined as the rats grew older, and they transformed into shorter sinus structures with rod-shaped ends.The present study suggests a close relationship between the structure of blood vessels invading the growth plate and the degree of endochondral ossification.