A comparison of two methods for calculating CR (time constant) during studies of arterial blood flow in rats

Some of our earlier reports have dealt with experiments on the central caudal arteries of a series of anesthetized rats. The results of these experiments were expressed by a relationship derived from the Windkessel theory where f(t) = alpha dz(t)/dt + beta z(t). When this theory is used, the measured blood flow forms f(t) and calculated wave forms alpha dz(t)/dt + beta z(t) agree closely. In these studies, we discovered that, when blood flow adz(t)/dt + beta z(t) agree closely. In these studies, we discovered that, when blood flow decreases, CR (time constant tau, the product of the blood vessel compliance C and the peripheral resistance R) values increase and vary widely. In the present study, 1) we investigated changes in CR when blood flow increases, and, 2) the method of least squares was used in calculating the formula given above. We achieved a better conformity between measured blood flow and calculated blood flow and perceived a clearer relationship between mean blood flow and CR than when they were calculated by the old method.