Muscle artery (histological preparation, WRF)

The wall of a muscular artery consists of three layers:

Tunica intima

 * dyes light because it contains a minimum of elastic fibers,
 * endothelium (single-layered squamous epithelium), its cells lie on a thin layer of sparse tissue (recognizable only at the highest resolution),
 * lamina elastica interna is colored dark purple.

Tunic media

 * almost exclusively smooth muscle cells, light gray to light purple in color,
 * on interface t. media and t. adventitia lies the lamina elastica externa (condensation of elastic fibres), again strongly colored.

Tunica adventitia
Note: photos are not yet available, for WRF staining see the article Elastic artery.
 * made up of collagen and elastic fibers with a minimum of muscle cells.

Related Articles

 * Muscular artery (histological slide, HE)
 * Elastic artery (histological slide)
 * Vein (histological slide, HE)