Scanning electron microscopic observations of the vascular structure of vertebral end-plates in rabbits.

We used scanning electron microscopy to examine the microcirculation in the vertebral end-plates of rabbits. The arteriola arborizes and swells at the end-plate and then coils to make a microvessel loop. This loop is the structure we refer to as a vascular bud. We suggest that these loop structures of the capillaries play a major role in the nutrition of the intervertebral discs.