Effect of blood gases and pH on thromboembolic reactions in rabbit mesenteric microvessels

The influence of changes in systemic blood gas and pH values on the thromboembolic reaction following wall puncture was studied in rabbit mesenteric arterioles and venules (diameter 20-40 microns), using intravital video-microscopy. Under normal circumstances the number of emboli produced was higher in arterioles than in venules (6 and 1, respectively). The initial thrombus growth, the number of emboli produced per vessel and the total duration of the embolisation period were not significantly influenced by changes in blood gas and pH values in both arterioles and venules. Therefore, the observed difference in thromboembolic reaction between arterioles and venules cannot be explained by differences in blood gas and pH values in these microvessels. Since reduced velocity, as a measure of wall shear rate, did not correlate with the thromboembolic reaction in arterioles or venules, fluid dynamics can also not explain the difference, indicating that the thrombogenic or antithrombogenic activity of arteriolar and venular walls differs following injury. A combination of hypercapnia and hypoxia was found to result in a prolongation of the average time period needed to produce a new embolus in both vessel types. This prolongation in embolus production time was largely due to the occurrence of periods, in which the thrombus did not grow, reflecting hampering of the adhesion and aggregation of blood platelets to a growing thrombus under hypercapnic/hypoxic conditions.