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Synchronous and baroceptor-sensitive oscillations in skin microcirculation: evidence for central autonomic control
Journal article

Synchronous and baroceptor-sensitive oscillations in skin microcirculation: evidence for central autonomic control

  • Bernardi, Luciano Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pavia and Instituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy;
  • Hayoz, Daniel Division of Hypertension, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne; and
  • Wenzel, René Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland
  • Passino, Claudio Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pavia and Instituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy;
  • Calciati, Alessandro Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pavia and Instituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy;
  • Weber, Roger Division of Hypertension, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne; and
  • Noll, Georg Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland
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Published in:
  • American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology. - American Physiological Society. - 1997, vol. 273, no. 4, p. H1867-H1878
Physiology (medical)
Physiology
Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
English To determine whether skin blood flow is local or takes part in general regulatory mechanisms, we recorded laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF; left and right index fingers), blood pressure, muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), R-R interval, and respiration in 10 healthy volunteers and 3 subjects after sympathectomy. We evaluated 1) the synchronism of LDF fluctuations in two index fingers, 2) the relationship with autonomically mediated fluctuations in other signals, and 3) the LDF ability to respond to arterial baroreflex stimulation (by neck suction at frequencies from 0.02 to 0.20 Hz), using spectral analysis (autoregressive uni- and bivariate, time-variant algorithms). Synchronous LDF fluctuations were observed in the index fingers of healthy subjects but not in sympathectomized patients. LDF fluctuations were coherent with those obtained for blood pressure, MSNA, and R-R interval. LDF fluctuations were leading blood pressure in the low-frequency (LF; 0.1 Hz) band and lagging in the respiratory, high-frequency (HF; ∼0.25 Hz) band, suggesting passive “downstream” transmission only for HF and “upstream” transmission for LF from the microvessels. LDF fluctuations were responsive to sinusoidal neck suction up to 0.1 Hz, indicating response to sympathetic modulation. Skin blood flow thus reflects modifications determined by autonomic activity, detectable by frequency analysis of spontaneous fluctuations.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
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Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/61264
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