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Tunica externa (vessels)

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(Redirected from Tunica externa) The tunica externa, also known as the tunica adventitia (or adventitia), is the outermost layer of a blood vessel, surrounding the tunica media. It is mainly composed of collagen and is supported by external elastic lamina. The collagen serves to anchor the blood vessel to nearby organs, giving it stability.

Tunica externa (vessels)

Section of a medium-sized artery.

Transverse section through a small artery and vein of the mucous membrane of the epiglottis of a child. (Tunica adventitia is at 'a') Latin tunica externa vasorum, tunica adventitia vasorum Gray's subject #133 499 (http://education.yahoo.com/reference/gray/subjects/subject?id=133#p499) Code TH H3.09.02.0.01009 (http://www.unifr.ch/ifaa/Public/EntryPage/ViewTH/THh309.html)

Contents

Contents
1 Pathology 2 Additional images 3 See also 4 External links

Pathology
A common pathological disorder concerning the tunica externa is scurvy, also known as vitamin C deficiency. Scurvy occurs because vitamin C is essential for the synthesis of collagen, and without it, the faulty collagen cannot maintain the vein walls, and they rupture, leading to a wide multitude of problems.

Additional images

Anatomy of the arterial wall

Microphotography of arterial wall with calcified (violet colour) atherosclerotic plaque (haematoxillin & eosin stain)

See also
Adventitia Tunica media Tunica intima

External links
Organology at UC Davis Circulatory/vessels/vessels7/vessels4 (http://trc.ucdavis.edu/mjguinan/apc100/modules/Circulatory/vessels/vessels7/vessels4.html) "Bird, vessels (LM, High)" adventitia (http://www.emedicinehealth.com/script/main/srchcont_dict.asp?src=adventitia) at eMedicine Dictionary

Image at About.com (http://biology.about.com/library/organs/heart/bltunica3.htm) This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunica_externa_(vessels)" Categories: Veins | Cardiovascular system stubs This page was last modified on 28 May 2011 at 12:13. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.