Fig 1.
Histologic and morphometric analyses.
A. Fifth intercostal artery showing almost no intimal thickness and muscular media layer. Note also the absence of elastic laminas except for the internal elastic lamina (IEL) and external elastic lamina (EEL). B. Methods used for morphometric analyses as described in the text. A solid white line represents the IEL and the discontinuous black line shows the EEL. The area enclosed by the solid black line is the lumen area (LA), the area enclosed by the solid white line is the combined lumen + intima area (IA) and the area enclosed by the discontinuous black line is the lumen + intima + media area (MA). A double-headed black arrow represents maximal intimal thickness (Max.It). The double-headed white arrow shows the medial thickening (Mt) at maximal intimal thickness. Elastin-orcein stain, scale bar = 100μm.
Table 1.
Baseline demographics by groups.
Fig 2.
Severity indices of intimal thickening in systemic and pulmonary vessels, by groups.
A-D represents individual data of systemic intimal thickening parameters: intimal area, luminal narrowing, intimal thickness index and intima-to-media ratio, respectively. E-H represents individual data of pulmonary intimal thickening parameters: intimal area, luminal narrowing, intimal thickness index and intima-to-media ratio, respectively. Horizontal bars indicate least squares mean values. P values for the pairwise comparisons using the least significant difference method with general linear model. P1: P-value for unadjusted analysis, P2: P-value for adjusted analysis using as covariables: gender, MetS, cHDL and circulating leukocytes.
Table 2.
Morphometric measurements and severity indices of intimal thickening in systemic and pulmonary arteries by groups.
Table 3.
Linear regression analyses for associations between clinical variables and the intimal thickening (%IA) of systemic arteries in the overall population.
Table 4.
Linear regression analyses for associations between clinical variables and the intimal thickening (%IA) of pulmonary arteries in the overall population.
Fig 3.
Representative photomicrographs of orcein stained elastin fiber in cross sections of intercostal and muscular pulmonary arteries.
Images from A to C represent intercostal arteries sections. The intima in A (COPD) is thicker than in the smokers (B) and the non-smokers (C) group. Images from D to F show the muscular pulmonary arteries sections of COPD (D), smokers (E), and non-smokers (F). Vessel remodelling, characterized by thickening of the intima layer, is more evident in the COPD group. Elastin-orcein stain, scale bar = 100μm.