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Updated: Jun 8, 2026
Evaluation of Cerebral Blood Flow Autoregulation in the Rat Using Laser Doppler Flowmetry
Published on: January 19, 2020
Multifractal analysis of heart rate variability and laser Doppler flowmetry fluctuations:comparison of results from
Anne Humeau1, Benjamin Buard, Guillaume Mahé
1Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Automatisés, Université d'Angers, 62 avenue Notre Dame du Lac, 49000 Angers, France. anne.humeau@univ-angers.fr
Insights
This study reveals similar multifractal properties in both central and peripheral cardiovascular system (CVS) signals. Analyzing heart rate variability (HRV) and laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) provides new insights into cardiovascular biophysics.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Biophysics
- Nonlinear Dynamics
- Physiological Signal Analysis
Background:
- Multifractal analysis has advanced understanding of the central cardiovascular system (CVS) via heart rate variability (HRV).
- Applying similar multifractal approaches to the peripheral CVS using laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) signals is a recent development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the peripheral CVS using multifractal analysis of LDF fluctuations.
- To compare multifractal analysis results from LDF signals with simultaneously recorded HRV signals.
- To evaluate and select appropriate multifractal analysis methodologies for biophysical signals.
Main Methods:
- Tested four distinct methodologies for multifractal analysis.
- Applied multifractal analysis to simulated reference signals and experimental cardiovascular signals (LDF and HRV).
- Compared the applicability and interpretability of different multifractal analysis techniques.
Main Results:
- Identified and compared multifractal properties of peripheral (LDF) and central (HRV) cardiovascular signals.
- Observed remarkably similar multifractal characteristics between LDF and HRV fluctuations across relevant physiological scales.
- Determined the suitability of tested multifractal analysis methods for cardiovascular signal interpretation.
Conclusions:
- Multifractal analysis is a viable tool for characterizing the complex dynamics of both central and peripheral CVS.
- The similar multifractal properties suggest interconnected dynamics between the central and peripheral cardiovascular systems.
- This study provides a foundation for selecting robust multifractal analysis methods for physiological signal investigation.
Abstract:
To contribute to the understanding of the complex dynamics in the cardiovascular system (CVS), the central CVS has previously been analyzed through multifractal analyses of heart rate variability (HRV) signals that were shown to bring useful contributions. Similar approaches for the peripheral CVS through the analysis of laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) signals are comparatively very recent. In this direction, we propose here a study of the peripheral CVS through a multifractal analysis of LDF fluctuations, together with a comparison of the results with those obtained on HRV fluctuations simultaneously recorded. To perform these investigations concerning the biophysics of the CVS, first we have to address the problem of selecting a suitable methodology for multifractal analysis, allowing us to extract meaningful interpretations on biophysical signals. For this purpose, we test four existing methodologies of multifractal analysis. We also present a comparison of their applicability and interpretability when implemented on both simulated multifractal signals of reference and on experimental signals from the CVS. One essential outcome of the study is that the multifractal properties observed from both the LDF fluctuations (peripheral CVS) and the HRV fluctuations (central CVS) appear very close and similar over the studied range of scales relevant to physiology.
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