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Spatial and temporal variations of cell‐free layer in arterioles
Author(s) -
Kong Robert LiChung,
Kim Sangho,
Popel Aleksander S.,
Intaglietta Marcos,
Johnson Paul C.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.a286-a
Subject(s) - cremaster muscle , arteriole , shear stress , standard deviation , chemistry , degree (music) , biomedical engineering , microcirculation , anatomy , materials science , medicine , mathematics , composite material , physics , biology , statistics , acoustics
The cell‐free layer near the vessel wall is especially important in arterioles, where the most hydraulic pressure loss occurs. Using a newly‐developed method, the spatial and temporal variations of the width have been determined in arterioles (20 – 60 μm ID) in the rat cremaster muscle at various arterial pressures with and without erythrocyte aggregation. This study shows that as vessel diameter increases from 20 to 60 μm, there is a small increase (~1.5 μm) in the mean width of the cell‐free layer at normal arterial pressures. No significant difference in the mean or standard deviation of the width was found at normal arterial pressure before and after Dextran 500 infusion. The temporal variations of the width were determined at various points along each arteriole to obtain its spatial variation using a cross‐correlation technique. The length constant (~30 μm) of the spatial variation was independent of the vessel diameter. Under reduced flow situations, both mean and standard deviation of the width significantly increased after the degree of aggregation was elevated to the levels of normal human blood compared with those before dextran infusion. Moreover, the changes became more pronounced as the degree of aggregation reached the levels of human disease states. The data on the cell‐free layer width shown here may provide useful information to predict wall shear stress or the degree of nitric oxide scavenging.