Tunica media

Tunica media
Transverse section through a small artery and vein of the mucous membrane of the epiglottis of a child. (Tunica media is at 'm')
Details
Identifiers
Latin	tunica media vasorum
MeSH	A02.633.570.491.800
Code	TH H3.09.02.0.01007
Dorlands /Elsevier	t_22/12831907
TA	A12.0.00.019
FMA	55590
Anatomical terminology []

The tunica media (New Latin "middle coat"), or media for short, is the middle tunica (layer) of an artery or vein. It lies between the tunica intima on the inside and the tunica externa on the outside.

Tunica media is made up of smooth muscle cells and elastic tissue. It lies between the tunica intima on the inside and the tunica externa on the outside.

The middle coat (tunica media) is distinguished from the inner (tunica intima) by its color and by the transverse arrangement of its fibers.

The middle coat is composed of a thick layer of connective tissue with elastic fibers, intermixed, in some veins, with a transverse layer of muscular tissue.

The white fibrous element is in considerable excess, and the elastic fibers are in much smaller proportion in the veins than in the arteries.

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

Artery wall

Vein

Section of a medium-sized artery

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