Capillary network characteristics are invaluable for diagnostics of muscle diseases. Biopsy material is limited in size and mostly not accessible for intensive research. Therefore, especially in human tissue, studies are performed on autopsy material. To approach the problem whether it is reliable to deduce hypotheses from autopsy material to explain physiological and pathological processes, we studied capillarity in pig soleus muscle 1 and 24 hr after death. Capillaries and muscle fibers were immunofluorescently marked, and images were acquired with a confocal microscope. Characteristics of the capillary network were estimated by image analysis methods using several plugins of the Ellipse program. Twenty-four hours after death, the measured characteristics of the capillary network differ by up to 50% when compared with samples excised 1 hr after death. Muscle fiber diameter, the measured capillary length, and tortuosity were reduced, and capillary network became more anisotropic. The main postmortem change that affects capillaries is evidently geometric deformation of muscle tissue. In conclusion, when comparing results from biopsy samples with those from autopsy samples, the effect of postmortem changes on the measured parameters must be carefully considered.

• MeSH
• kapiláry patologie   ultrastruktura   MeSH
• konfokální mikroskopie metody   MeSH
• kosterní svaly krevní zásobení   patologie   MeSH
• počítačové zpracování obrazu metody   MeSH
• posmrtné změny MeSH
• prasata MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

In this review we present immunohistochemical methods for visualization of capillaries and muscle fibres in thick muscle sections. Special attention is paid to the procedures that preserve good morphology. Applying confocal microscopy and virtual 3D stereological grids, or tracing of capillaries in virtual reality, length of capillaries within a muscle volume or length of capillaries adjacent to a muscle fibre per fibre length, fibre surface area or fibre volume can be evaluated by an unbiased approach. Moreover, 3D models of capillaries and muscle fibres can be produced. Comparison of the developed methods with counting capillary profiles from 2D sections is discussed and the reader is warned that counting capillary profiles from 2D sections can underestimate the capillary length by as much as 75 percent. Application of the described 3D methodology is illustrated by the anatomical remodelling of capillarity during acute denervation and early reinnervation in the rat soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles.

• MeSH
• anatomické modely MeSH
• denervace svalu MeSH
• financování organizované MeSH
• kapiláry anatomie a histologie   ultrastruktura   MeSH
• konfokální mikroskopie MeSH
• kosterní svaly krevní zásobení   MeSH
• krysa rodu rattus MeSH
• potkani Wistar MeSH
• zobrazování trojrozměrné MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• krysa rodu rattus MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• přehledy MeSH