Capillary growth in the mesentery of normal young rats. Intravital video and electron microscope analyses

Capillary sprouting was studied by a combination of intravital video recording and subsequent electron microscopy in the mesentery of young female rats without previous experimental manipulation. Selected segments of the mesenteric microvascular bed with capillary sprouts were carefully surveyed and mapped at a monitor magnification of 255 times and submitted to detailed in vivo analysis concerning flow pattern and cells at 2000 times magnification. The mesentery was preserved for light and electron microscopy by a superfusion of glutaraldehyde while observed and recorded on video, confirming earlier investigations that this type of fixation does preserve exceptionally well vascular topography and diameters of the mesenteric microvascular bed. Capillary sprouts originated as endothelial spurs from arteriolar-venular arcades and continued to grow in size through a bipolar rearrangement of endothelial cells, forming a solid sprout tip which progressively lengthened by alternately rapid and slow growth phases. The extended leading tip of the migrating endothelial cells displayed microspikes and pseudopodia denuded of basal lamina. The cytoplasm of the leading tip contained an array of microtubules, 75 A filaments and many small vesicles. In similarity with the situation in nerve growth cones, all these organelles probably participate in cytoplasmic streaming and cell migration. The sprout lumen arose between endothelial cells of the solid sprout. Mesenteric connective tissue fibroblasts approached and settled down on the sprouts, being converted to pericytes as the fibroblasts became enveloped by a basal lamina. The pericytes reinforced the wall of the delicate and fragile capillary sprouts, and trapped plasma, platelets and red blood cells which had leaked out temporarily, in the process assuming an umbrella shape. The arteriolar feeder of the arcades was surrounded by cells which were classified as intermediate between pericytes and true smooth muscle cells. Sprouts that presumably were on the verge of merging with other capillaries were analyzed for indications of how anastomoses are formed.