Laser Doppler flow-meter assessment of iontophoretically applied norepinephrine on human finger skin circulation

A miniaturized technique to administer vasoactive substances iontophoretically into the human finger skin and to continuously assess the resulting reaction of the vessels is described. Cutaneous blood flow is measured with a laser Doppler flow-meter. The technique has been used in 9 healthy volunteers with norepinephrine as test substance. The described method is a convenient way to evaluate the effects of transdermally applied vasoactive substances in a semiquantitative way without risking central effects of the substance to influence the registered blood flow.