Cross-sectional areas of deep/core veins are smaller at lower core body temperatures

The cardiovascular system plays a crucial role in thermoregulation. Deep core veins, due to their large size and role in returning blood to the heart, are an important part of this system. The response of veins to increasing core temperature has not been adequately studied in vivo. Our objective was to noninvasively quantify in C57BL/6 mice the response of artery-vein pairs to increases in body temperature. Adult male mice were anesthetized and underwent magnetic resonance imaging. Data were acquired from three colocalized vessel pairs (the neck [carotid/jugular], torso [aorta/inferior vena cava (IVC)], periphery [femoral artery/vein]) at core temperatures of 35, 36, 37, and 38°C. Cross-sectional area increased with increasing temperature for all vessels, excluding the carotid. Average area of the jugular, aorta, femoral artery, and vein linearly increased with temperature (0.10, 0.017, 0.017, and 0.027 mm² /°C, respectively; P < 0.05). On average, the IVC has the largest venous response for area (18.2%/°C, vs. jugular 9.0 and femoral 10.9%/°C). Increases in core temperature from 35 to 38 °C resulted in an increase in contact length between the aorta/IVC of 29.3% (P = 0.007) and between the femoral artery/vein of 28.0% (P = 0.03). Previously unidentified increases in the IVC area due to increasing core temperature are biologically important because they may affect conductive and convective heat transfer. Vascular response to temperature varied based on location and vessel type. Leveraging noninvasive methodology to quantify vascular responses to temperature could be combined with bioheat modeling to improve understanding of thermoregulation.