The cutaneous vasoconstrictor response to venous stasis is normal in subjects with primary Raynaud's disease

In control subjects and in subjects with primary Raynaud's disease, sudden sound or a mild cool stimulus evokes the pattern of alerting response that includes cutaneous vasoconstriction but vasodilatation in forearm muscle. In control subjects, response habituates on repetition of these stimuli both within experimental sessions and over successive days. However, in subjects with primary Raynaud's disease, the cutaneous vasoconstriction and the muscle vasodilatation persist. We have now tested whether a similar disparity exists for the cutaneous vasoconstriction evoked by venous stasis, a response considered to be a veno-arteriolar reflex mediated by sympathetic fibers, but not requiring transmission through the spinal cord. In 10 subjects with primary Raynaud's disease and in 10 matched controls, a sphygmomanometer cuff on the left arm was inflated to 40 mm Hg for 2 minutes, five times on each of three experimental sessions on days 1, 3, and 5. Cutaneous red cell flux (RCF) was recorded from the pulp and dorsum of the left index finger by using a laser Doppler meter; digital vascular conductance (DCVC) was computed as RCF divided by arterial pressure. The first venous stasis, in session 1, evoked a decrease in pulp and dorsum DCVC in the control and primary Raynaud's subjects. There were no differences between the groups in the magnitudes or durations of these responses. Within session 1, the magnitude of the decrease in DCVC diminished on repetition of venous stasis in the dorsum in controls and in the pulp in primary Raynaud's subjects. We propose these effects reflected the similar reductions in baseline DCVC over time; there was no change in the duration of the responses. Repetition of venous stasis had similar effects in both groups of subjects within sessions 2 and 3. Further, judging from the mean of the responses evoked in each Session the decreases evoked in pulp and dorsum DCVC by venous stasis were fully consistent in magnitude and duration over the three sessions in both groups. These results indicate that the direct constrictor influence of sympathetic fibers upon cutaneous blood vessels is similar in magnitude and similarly reproducible in controls and subjects with primary Raynaud's disease. This reinforces our view that the lack of habituation of the cutaneous vasoconstrictor component of the alerting response in subjects with primary Raynaud's disease reflects impairment of the central neural process of habituation, rather than a peripheral phenomenon, and that this lack of habituation predisposes these subjects to vasospasm.