Vacuum-assisted perfusion of the dog hindlimb

A method for rapidly changing perfusion pressure to the relatively intact dog hindlimb using vacuum assistance is proposed and demonstrated. The hindlimb of an anesthetized dog is inserted into a rigid sealed enclosure for application of a partial vacuum. The circulation of the hindlimb remains entirely intact except for a single large noncollapsible catheter placed in the femoral vein and connected to a servo-pump. The servo-pump maintains the venous pressure equal to the enclosure pressure even when this pressure is in the partial vacuum state. The automatically adjusted pumping rate of this pump also provides a continuous measure of the blood flow in the limb as it returns the blood via a jugular catheter. In nine dogs the systemic arterial pressure was maintained constant, and the enclosure pressure and venous pressure were set to subatmospheric levels, thus changing the perfusion pressure to any desired value up to 220 mmHg. The procedure had minimal impact on the central circulation, suggesting that the technique may be useful in studying hemodynamics of the hindlimb or other organs at high perfusion pressure, which has always been difficult to achieve experimentally. In the nine dogs, blood flow responses were observed at both elevated and reduced perfusion pressure. The changes in measured blood flow induced by the changes in perfusion pressure were variable but were generally directly proportional to perfusion pressure in the steady state.