Supravital morphology of small branches of lateral striate arteries as observed with Nomarski optics

Lateral striate arteries were dissected from the fixed brains of 6 patients of increasing age. Small branches of arteries were observed--unprocessed and unstained--by Nomarski optics. Among the findings there was fibrous intimal proliferation, replacement of medial muscle by collagen, tortuosity, twisting or coiling. The severity of changes seemed to progress with aging. The advantages of the used methodology that aims at avoiding artifacts of processing are discussed briefly.