Ultrastructural analogies between intimal alterations in veins from diabetic patients and animals with STZ-induced diabetes

The aim of this study was to document similarities and differences between veins from human diabetic patients and an experimentally induced diabetic animal model. The saphenous vein and posterior tibial vein from diabetic patients and the femoral vein from rats were studied. An increase in the extracellular matrix with migration of smooth muscle cells and endothelial alterations were observed in the intima of all specimens. These findings demonstrate that there is a high degree of similarity between the pathological changes in the venous wall during human diabetes mellitus and streptozotocin (STZ) induced-diabetes. This finding validates STZ induced-diabetes in rats as a model for further experimental study to clarify the fate of the diabetic venous wall when used as a graft.

Immunohistochemical and ultrastructural study of microvessels in diabetic veins

The aim of this study was to examine the localization and features of the intramural microvessels in the wall of inferior limb veins in diabetic patients. The study was conducted in a group of 10 insulin-dependent diabetic patients, who had suffered inferior limb amputation as a consequence of chronic limb ischemia. Sections of long saphenous and posterior tibial veins were investigated by light and transmission electron microscope. The von Willebrand factor and albumin were detected by immunohistochemical techniques. The results show the presence of numerous microvessels in the intima and inner third of the media layer of the venous wall of the sections studied. These microvessels present morphological and functional modifications in relation to those observed in the control veins. They also showed the presence of endothelial cells migrating from the lumen. The authors conclude that the venous wall of inferior limbs in amputated diabetic patients presents a neovascularization process. Some of the endothelial cells of the venous lumen can also have a role in the angiogenesis.