A new method for assessing arteriolar diameter and hemodynamic resistance using image analysis of vessel lumen

To characterize the nonuniform diameter response in a blood vessel after a given stimulus (e.g., arteriolar conducted response), frequent serial diameter measurements along the vessel length are required. We used an advanced image analysis algorithm (the "discrete dynamic contour") to develop a quick, reliable method for serial luminal diameter measurements along the arteriole visualized by intravital video microscopy. With the use of digitized images of the arteriole and computer graphics, the method required an operator to mark the image of the two inner edges of the arteriole at several places along the arteriolar length. The algorithm then "filled in" these marks to generate two continuous contours that "hugged" these edges. A computer routine used these contours to determine luminal diameters every 20 microm. Based on these diameters and on Poiseuille's law, the routine also estimated the hemodynamic resistance of the blood vessel. To demonstrate the usefulness of the method, we examined the character of spatial decay of KCl-induced conducted constriction along approximately 500-microm-long arteriolar segments and the KCl-induced increase in hemodynamic resistance computed for these segments. The decay was only modestly fitted by a simple exponential, and the computed increase in resistance (i.e., 5- to 70-fold) was only modestly predicted by resistance increase based on our mathematical model involving measurements at two arteriolar sites (Tyml K, Wang X, Lidington D, and Oullette Y. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 281: H1397-H1406, 2001). We conclude that our method provides quick, reliable serial diameter measurements. Because the change in hemodynamic resistance could serve as a sensitive index of conducted response, use of this index in studies of conducted response may lead to new mechanistic insights on the response.