Functional anatomy of the perivascular tissue in the adductor canal.

Lower limbs of human adults, males and females, were used for micro- and mesoscopic studies of the collagen-elastic arrangement of the tissue surrounding the femoral vessels on their course along the adductor canal. The vessels' sheaths and lamellae which join them to the canal walls, are formed by strong networks of collagen and elastic fibers, and the perivascular area is filled by thin lamellae of connective tissue, delimiting lobules of adipose tissue. The functional importance of this arrangement to the mechanic protection of the vessels during contraction of the muscles related to the vessels in the adductor canal is discussed.