Perfused skeletal muscle -- an experimental preparation for many questions!

Perfused mammalian skeletal muscle preparations either in vitro or in situ are one of the options to be considered when planning a physiological research program or project. Such preparations have been and continue to be used to investigate research questions as diverse as skeletal muscle function and metabolism, peripheral vascular function, and an approximation of exercise. When selecting a perfused muscle preparation, both anatomical and physiological organization must be evaluated in the context of the planned experiment. In any experiment, a number of physiologically significant variables can be manipulated, such as the level of flow and the arterial or inflow concentration of a gas or substance to control substrate supply and metabolite removal as well as the stimulation parameters to alter metabolic rate. The choice of blood or an artificial perfusate is of paramount importance because, when compared to blood-perfused preparations, those receiving artificial perfusates show depressed vascular autoregulation among other changes, indicating a decrease in physiological quality. Overall, perfused skeletal muscle preparations can be used to examine many and varied research questions with close to in-vivo quality and a high degree of accuracy and control if blood-perfused.