Smooth muscle differentiation in human vein wall at valvular level: comparison with nonvalvular wall and correlation with venous function.

The aim of this study was to evaluate local differences in smooth muscle differentiation in venous valves of patients suffering from chronic venous insufficiency, in relation to functional hemodynamic parameters measured by echo Doppler. These functional parameters did not correlate with smooth muscle differentiation at the valvular site. These results failed to support an initiating role of valvular structure in the development of chronic venous insufficiency. However, this work stresses differences in cellular differentiation of valve wall and nonvalvular smooth muscle cells in culture, and we found histologic differences in the structure of endovein and media (connective tissue relative content) between valvular and nonvalvular venous wall. The presence of smooth muscle cells in the valve cusp was demonstrated by smooth muscle alpha-actin-specific labeling and was observed to be restricted to one side of the valve cusp.