Repair in arterial tissue.

Both reendothelialized and non-reendothelialized surfaces of rabbit aortas, subjected to an embolectomy catheter lesion, were sectioned parallel to the neointimal surface. Microfilament bundles within endothelial cells were associated with extracellular anchoring filaments, lying parallel to the long axis in sections from reendothelialized areas. Proteoglycans coated the surface of anchoring filaments and joined together all the elements of connective tissue in the subendothelial space. In non-reendothelialized areas covered by smooth muscle cells, anchoring filaments were less prominent, almost no proteolglycans were visible, and connective tissue components were randomly mixed. We propose an influence of endothelial cells on the orientation and composition of the subendothelial connective tissue.