RT Journal Article
T1 Coccygeal body revisited: An immunohistochemical study using donated elderly cadavers
A1 Jin, Zhe-Wu
A1 Cho, Kwang Ho
A1 Jang, Hyung Suk
A1 Murakami, Gen
A1 Rodríguez Vázquez, José Francisco
A1 Yamamoto, Masahito
A1 Abe, Shinichi
AB To describe the normal anatomy and histology of the adult coccygeal body (CB) and to discuss about the origin and function, using immunohistochemistry, we examined 29 CBs found in 32 elderly donated cadavers without macroscopic pathology in the pelvis. The CB was usually located in or near the anococcygeal ligaments. It was almost always composed of multiple masses or nodules of round glomus cells (smooth muscle actin or SMA++). However, the CB sometimes contained abundant dilated veins with scattered glomus cells. Thus, the CBs varied from the glomus cell nodule-dominant type, through an intermediate morphology with a mixture of nodules and veins, to the vein-dominant type. Each glomus cell mass was surrounded by abundant sympathetic nerves. In all specimens, we found multiple abnormal arteries, each of which carried a glomus-like cell layer around the almost -obliterated vascular lumen; as well as an SMA-negative thick arterial wall containing abundant sympathetic nerves. The ligaments around the CB are known to be under strong mechanical stress from the pelvic floor. We considered abnormal arteries containing the unique internal layer as an intermediate between a normal muscular artery and a glomus cell mass of CB. Under long-termed mechanical stress, a muscular artery seems to lose smooth muscles with increased sympathetic nerve fibers, to compensate for the lack of muscle function. Taken together with fetal morphology (our recent report), some or most of the CBs might not be an arteriovenous shunt but a result of stress-induced acquired transformation of pericytes. Anat Rec, 2017.
PB Wiley
SN 1932-8486
YR 2017
FD 2017-06-05
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/109682
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/109682
LA eng
NO Jin, Z. W., Cho, K. H., Jang, H. S., Murakami, G., Rodríguez-Vázquez, J. F., Yamamoto, M., & Abe, S. I. (2017). Coccygeal body revisited: An immunohistochemical study using donated elderly cadavers. Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007), 300(10), 1826–1837. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.23615
DS Docta Complutense
RD 15 dic 2025