Hemodynamic basis of oscillations in systemic arterial pressure in conscious rats

In conscious resting rats, beat-to-beat fluctuations in systemic mean arterial pressure (MAP) were compared with those in cardiac output and those in blood flow in the renal, mesenteric, and hindquarter vascular beds. Spontaneous oscillations (lability) in MAP were observed in frequency bands centered about 1.6 Hz (high: HF), 0.4 Hz (mid: MF), and 0.13 Hz (low: LF). Lability of MAP was confined within the LF (approximately 8 s) band. Lability of cardiac output, on the other hand, showed primary HF oscillations. LF oscillations in regional blood flow were most prominent in the mesenteric and renal vascular beds. In these beds, LF oscillations in blood flow showed negative phase angles with MAP, whereas those between MAP and hindquarter blood flow were positive. Cross correlation analysis indicated that approximately 2 s following a LF change in MAP, LF changes in mesenteric and renal blood flow occurred opposite to those of MAP. Changes in hindquarter flow were negatively correlated with those in MAP about zero time delay. Admittance gains were > or = 1 across all frequencies for all vascular beds, indicating the absence of autoregulation. This hemodynamic pattern suggests that myogenic mechanisms predominantly control mesenteric and renal blood flow in a nonautoregulatory but rather superregulatory manner, while autonomic mechanisms regulate hindquarter blood flow. Thus, in conscious resting rats, spontaneous fluctuations in systemic arterial pressure predominantly exhibit slow (approximately 8 s) oscillations, which do not arise from fluctuations in cardiac output, but originate from regionally specific myogenic oscillatory mechanisms contributing to resistance to flow.