Interference of sympathetic innervation with reactive hyperemia in dog's skeletal muscle

The reactive hyperaemia (RH) after 30 sec arterial occlusion was studied in normal and chromically sympathectomized dog hindlimbs, under general chloralose anaesthesia. RH reached higher peak flow in the sympathectomized limbs, but the percent increase of flow was the same in both hindlimbs. The time course of RH was reduced in normal limbs, thus leading to a 35% decrease of the excess flow. The above results were explained on the basis of an economizing activity of the sympathetic basal tone on available oxygen due to effects on the microvasculature as well as on the cell metabolism. The autonomic tone is also responsible for steeper reduction of blood flow after RH in the normal limbs due to enhanced myogenic reaction.