Publication Date:
2019-07-18
Description:
The response of the cutaneous microcirculation to orthostatic stress varies along the length of the body due to the interaction of central controls with regional responses to local blood pressure. We hypothesize that artificial orthostatic stresses such as Gz centrifugation and LBNP differ from whole-body tilting in terms of the distribution of microvascular blood flow. Cutaneous microvascular flows were measured by laser Doppler flowmetry at the neck, thigh, and leg of 15 normal subjects. Volunteers underwent stepwise head-up tilt (HUT) and short- and long-arm centrifugation protocols from supine control (0 Gz) to 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 0.8, 0.6, 0.4, 0.2, and 0 Gz at the feet, for 30-s periods with 10-s transitions between levels. The same subjects underwent a corresponding supine LBNP protocol, up to 100 mmHg (in 20 mmHg increments) and back to zero pressure, which produced transmural pressure across blood vessels in the foot approximately equal to the HUT protocol. In general, application of all orthostatic stresses produced significant flow reductions in the lower body (p less than 0.05) and inconsistent changes in the neck. At low levels of each stress (0.4 Gz, 40 mmHg), LBNP generated the greatest relative reduction in flow in the lower body (-66.9+/-5.7%, thigh; -60.6 +/-5.7%, leg, mean +/- SE). HUT caused a less severe flow reduction than LBNP at the thigh and leg (-39.9 +/- 8.1% and -55.9+/-4.8%), while the effects induced by both forms of centrifugation were the least profound. Higher levels of each stress generally resulted in similar responses. These responses exhibit a consistent relationship to hypothesized changes in local microvascular transmural pressure, suggesting that myogenic and veno-arteriolar reflexes play a significant role in determining microvascular perfusion during orthostatic stress.
Keywords:
Aerospace Medicine
Type:
American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology Meeting; Oct 19, 1994 - Oct 22, 1994; San Francisco, CA; United States
Format:
text
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