[A new approach to the ultrastructural study of the microcirculatory bed of skeletal muscle]

An original simple method was successfully worked out when following systematically the ultrastructure of particular microcirculatory areas of the m. spinotrapezius in the white rat. The main principle of this method consists in a precise orientation of the selected parts of the terminal vascular bed, beginning from their vital observation, continuing through their fixation and dehydration and ending with their embedding into a thin layer of Epon in order to prepare blocks containing very small of the beforehand-chosen areas of the vessels studied. A concise survey of the results obtained is given with a description of the main structural elements specific for the wall of the arterioles, terminal and precapillary arterioles, capillaries, postcapillaries and larger venules. The method presented has proved to be practically useful and is recommended for further investigations concerned with the submicroscopical structure of muscular vessels.