Flow pulsation and network structure in mesenteric microvasculature of rats

Red cell velocity was measured by a fiber-optic laser-Doppler anemometer microscope in microvessels of the mesentery of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto control rats (WKY) with high temporal resolution. Based on the velocity data, the propagation velocity of flow pulse along single microvessels as well as the arteriovenous distributions of the mean volumetric flow, the amplitude of flow pulsation, and the phase lag of the flow relative to the systemic pressure were analyzed in relationship to the vessel wall rheology and the network topology. The propagation velocity was 3.5-134 cm/s in arterioles of 12-43 microns in diameter, and it increased with increasing diameter. The mean volumetric flow exhibited a power law relationship to the vessel diameter, in which the exponents were 3.16 and 3.30 for arterioles and 3.03 and 2.85 for venules in SHR and WKY, respectively. The exponents for arterioles were > 3 (P < 0.1) and different between SHR and WKY (P < 0.12). The amplitude of the flow pulsation also varied in a power law with the vessel diameter, whose exponents for arterioles were 3.41 and 3.52 for SHR and WKY, respectively. The flow phase lag increased gradually with decreasing vessel diameter in arterioles and increased comparatively rapidly with increasing vessel diameter in venules, which suggests more compliant vessel walls for venules than arterioles. The slope of the increase in the flow phase lag with the vessel diameter in arterioles of SHR was larger than that for WKY (P < 0.05). This difference in the flow phase lag distribution and the difference in the exponent of the mean flow rate vs. diameter relationship may reflect that the number of small arterioles relative to large ones is reduced in SHR microvasculature compared with that in WKY.