The peritoneal elastic lamina.

The structure and extent of the submesothelial elastic tissue of the peritoneum, tentatively termed the peritoneal elastic lamina (lamina elastica peritonei, LEP), was studied in autopsy and biopsy material by light microscopy. The investigation confirms the presence of a well-defined network of elastic fibres just beneath the basement membrane of the visceral and parietal peritoneum in man. The LEP is claimed to be analogous to similar elastic tissue in other serosal cavities, the pleura and the pericardium, as previously described. The LEP may be useful for normal anatomical as well as pathoanatomical investigations.