Microvasculature of the gastric mucosa in dogs.

A corrosion casting technique was used to study differences in the microvascular architecture of the pars cardiaca, the fundus ventriculi, the corpus ventriculi and the pars pylorica of the canine gastric mucosa. This technique revealed an unusual arrangement of the microvascular architecture in the nonglandular region surrounding the esophageal opening. Capillaries run tortuously along the mucosal surface parallel to the long axis of the esophagus, and some capillaries form a polygonal network that extends around the seromucous glands. In contrast, the mucosal capillaries of the glandular regions of the stomach are arranged in a symmetric pattern associated with the gastric glands. There are also differences in the mucosal microvessels of the cardiac and fundic areas compared to the corpus and the antrum. In the cardiac and fundic regions, a sparse microvascular pattern was observed and fewer capillaries drained into a single venule. However, the vessels surrounding the gastric glands in the corpus and antral areas drained into venules perpendicular to the hexagonal arrangement of the capillaries.