Quantitative observation of blood supply of spinal cord

Objective:To explore the angioarchitecture and distriburtion of blood vessels in the spinal cord and to provide anatomic basis for treatment and prognosis of ischemic pathological changes of the spinal cord. Methods: Blood vessels of spinal cord were stained with alkaline phosphatase and then observed with stereology method. Results: There were differences between volume density (Vv), surface density (Sv) and length density (Lv) of blood vessel of grey and white matter inside spinal cord. Conclusion: Volume density (Vv), surface density (Sv) and length density (Lv) of capillary in grey matter are obviously higher than that in white matter; the number of capillary in anterior horn of grey matter are much more than that of posterior horn of grey matter. Moreover, the density of capillary in white matter is: anterior columnslateral columnsposterior columns.