Adrenergic innervation of the coronary arteries of the human heart and changes in it in atherosclerosis

: Luminescent histochemical studies of autopsy specimens (30 cases) representing various markedness of coronary arterial atherosclerosis (segments from the left circumflex and the left anterior interventricular coronary arteries) showed that various portions of the blood channel differed with respect to the density of adrenergic nerve plexuses depending on the extent of atherosclerotic vascular stenosis. Morphometrically, the density of adrenergic fibres in the superficial adventitial layers of the atherosclerotically-affected left circumflex artery was, on the average, 1.4 times, and that of the anterior interventricular artery, 1.8 times as low as the density at similar sites of unstenosed vessels. In deeper layers, the density of adrenergic plexuses in the affected segments of both arteries is reduced twofold, as compared to similar segments of unaffected arteries.