Microvascular blood volume-to-flow relationships in porcine heart wall: whole body CT evaluation in vivo
Liu, Y.H.; Bahn, R.C.; Ritman, E.L.
American Journal of Physiology 269(5 Pt 2): H1820-H1826
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-9513 PMID: 7503282 Document Number: 451183
The goal of this study was to evaluate the functional behavior of recruitable (mostly capillary) and nonrecruitable (mostly arterioles and venules) components of the intramyocardial microvasculature in the in situ heart of intact experimental animals. For this purpose fast X-ray computerized tomography (CT) scans were performed in a group of anesthetized pigs. Each scan was performed during an aortic root angiogram and was repeated after sequential injections of a suspension of nonradioactive microspheres into a selected coronary artery. Regional myocardial perfusion (F, ml cntdot g-1 cntdot min-1) and intramyocardial blood volume (rho, ml/g) were estimated from the dynamic CT image sequences. For the intramyocardial microcirculation, rho = AF + B sqroot F (where A = 0.016 min and B = 0.076 (ml cntdot min/g)-1/2) was shown to describe the rho-to-F relationship over the entire range of flows observed. With increasing embolization with 15-mu-m diameter microspheres, the coefficients A and B changed in a way consistent with A describing the transit time through the functionally recruitable component and B/ sqroot F describing the transit time through the functionally nonrecruitable component of the microcirculation.