A new view of the arterial smooth muscle cells and autonomic nerve plexus by scanning electron microscopy in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Mesenteric artery smooth muscle cells and their associated autonomic nerve plexus were simultaneously studied by scanning electron microscopy in 3-month-old spontaneously hypertensive rats. The adventitial surface of the outermost muscle layer revealed numerically more protrusions accompanied by a denser network of nerve fibers in spontaneously hypertensive rats vs normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats.