Age-related modifications of aorta and coronaries in the rabbit: a morphological and morphometrical assessment

Aging seems to be related to various vascular diseases, such as dissecting aneurysm and atherosclerosis. The nature of the relationship between aging and these vascular diseases has not been completely clarified. The goal of this study was to investigate, using morphological and morphometrical methods, the age related modifications of the arterial wall in rabbits of three different ages, evaluating separately two different vascular districts and the various aortic segments. Our results confirm that the most relevant age-related structural aortic changes were the increase of thickness, length, volume and diameter of the vessels, together with the development of an intimal thickening. The latter was diffuse in the aorta and focal in coronary vessels and it appears earlier in the aorta than in the coronaries, being absent in the coronaries of young rabbits. In addition, morphological and ultrastructural studies revealed the presence in aged rabbits of some marked intimal storage of a ground substance into intimal thickening of proximal aortic segments. Morphometric studies demonstrated an age-related decrease of aortic cellularity of tunica media and a parallel increase of the content of collagen and glycosaminoglycans, whereas elastin did not vary. The different relationships between cells and interstitial tissue occurring with aging are most probably a phenomenon of adaptation to the changing forces acting on the arterial wall and they might constitute the structural background of the increased arterial susceptibility to various noxae. Finally, the intimal storage of the ground substance, probably related to a functional disturbance of endothelium and or smooth muscle cells, may play an initiating role in atherogenesis.