How to assess vascular remodelling in small and medium-sized muscular arteries in humans

The study of vascular wall changes in humans has generated great interest with the increasing realization that, independently of the potential contribution to mechanisms involved in blood pressure elevation, these structural alterations (remodelling) or functional changes may contribute to the complications of elevated blood pressure. Moreover, some of these changes may be corrected partially or totally by administration of antihypertensive agents and other drugs. This has fuelled interest in the techniques used to evaluate changes in the vascular wall in humans, which are reviewed critically here with a focus on human studies in hypertension. Remodelling of large and small arteries has different characteristics, and is studies with different techniques. In hypertensive patients, small arteries less than 400 microns in diameter exhibit a reduction in lumen diameter, accompanied sometimes but not always by an increase in media width or in media cross-section. The study of capillaries and small arteries of the skin or the eye can be performed non-invasively, but for the sake of obtaining the information of interest in hypertension, at present invasive techniques are required to investigate small arteries. These consist of a biopsy of subcutaneous tissue, usually from the gluteal region, and the study of vessels after they have been mounted on a 'wire myograph' or on a pressurized system. In contrast to small arteries, large arteries from hypertensive humans present increases in media width without a significant reduction in the lumen diameter (when studied under conditions isobaric relative to those in normotensive subjects). Conduit arteries may be studies non-invasively with the use of ultrasound techniques. The study of large elastic arteries is not addressed here. The use of echo-tracking devices to study muscular medium-sized arteries such as the radial artery is described. The relative advantages and disadvantages of these techniques, the questions which may be asked and the relevance of the information obtained using these approaches are discussed.