Partition of capillary blood flow in rumen, reticulum, and omasum of sheep

Using radioactive microspheres, mucosal and muscular capillary blood flow have been measured in the rumen, reticulum, and omasum of conscious sheep. Total forestomach capillary blood flow (7.7 ml min(-1) kg body wt(-1)) was about 7% of cardiac output; 95% of the flow was in the mucosa and only 5% in muscle layers. Blood flow in the rumen was 6 times higher than in the reticulum and 4.4 times higher than in the omasum. Mucosal capillary flow per unit area of mucosal epithelium in the omassum (disregarding the increment in area due to papillae) was only one-third of that in the ventral rumen (long papillae); flow in the dorsal rumen (short papillae) was about half the flow in the ventral rumen. Mucosal flow seems to provide a convenient, indirect estimate of the increase in mucosal surface due to papillae and, thereby, of the functional forestomach surface area. Heat stimuli resulted in decreased capillary blood flow--primarily in mucosa during exposure to a warm environment and, also, in muscle during hypothalamic or spinal cord heating.