Figure 1.

Schematic illustration of the structural components of a small artery. The vascular wall consists of three distinct layers: the tunica externa (adventitia), the tunica media and the tunica intima. The adventitia is composed of collagen-rich connective tissue containing fibroblasts and perivascular nerves. The tunica media contains mainly vascular smooth muscle cells and extracellular matrix components including elastic laminas between smooth muscle layers as well as an internal elastic lamina that separates the tunica media and from the intima. The tunica intima contains a basement membrane and a monolayer of endothelial cells (endothelium) that synthesizes and anchors all components of the endothelial glycocalyx. The figure was modified from (184).