Ischemia Impairs Vasodilation in Skeletal Muscle Resistance Artery

<p>Functional vasodilation in arterioles is impaired with chronic ischemia. We sought to examine the impact of chronic ischemia and age on skeletal muscle resistance artery function. To examine the impact of chronic ischemia, the femoral artery was resected from young (2-3mo) and adult (6-7mo) mice and the profunda femoris artery diameter was measured at rest and following gracilis muscle contraction 14 days later using intravital microscopy. Functional vasodilation was significantly impaired in ischemic mice (14.4±4.6% vs. 137.8±14.3%, p<0.0001 n=8) and non-ischemic adult mice (103.0±9.4% vs. 137.8±14.3%, p=0.05 n=10). In order to analyze the cellular mechanisms of the impairment, a protocol was developed to apply pharmacological agents to the experimental preparation while maintaining tissue homeostasis. Endothelial and smooth muscle dependent vasodilation were impaired with ischemia, 39.6 ± 13.6% vs. 80.5 ± 11.4% and 43.0 ± 11.7% vs. 85.1 ± 10.5%, respectively. From this data, it can be supported that smooth muscle dysfunction is the reason for the observed impairment in arterial vasodilation. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MS in Biomedical Engineering

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biomedical and General Engineering

Year dc:date.available

2011

Author dc:creator

• Struthers, Kyle Remington

Contributors dc:contributor

• Trevor Cardinal

• Vascular Dysfunction
• Age
• Impaired Vasodilation
• Ischemia
• Mouse
• Peripheral Artery Disease
• Cardiovascular Diseases
• Cardiovascular System
• Cellular and Molecular Physiology
• Disease Modeling
• Medical Molecular Biology
• Medical Sciences
• Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Engineering
• Musculoskeletal, Neural, and Ocular Physiology
• Other Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering

Identifier

10.15368/theses.2011.103

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:theses-1582