Morphological Analysis of Fenestrae in Arteries

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is worldwide cause of death. The morphological structure of one of the regions of arteries called the internal elastic lamina (IEL) is associated with the stiffness of arteries, especially the presence and characteristics of small holes called fenestrae. Structural analysis of the IEL as observed with multiphoton or confocal fluorescent microscopy is complicated, primarily due to is three-dimensional distribution along a series of z-stack slices. In addition, whilst the top slices of an artery cross long lamina sections, the bottom slices only cross short sections of the lamina and would be better observed in a different plane than that of the acquired image.