Does direct sympathetic stimulation alter intestinal muscle and mucosal blood flow in anesthetized rats?
Direct sympathetic stimulation at high frequencies significantly reduces intestinal muscle and mucosal blood flow, likely mediated by upstream arterioles and venules.
The effect of direct sympathetic stimulation on intestinal muscle and submucosal-mucosal vasculatures was studied in the anesthetized rat. Blood flow was calculated from direct measurements of vessel diameter and red cell velocity. Stimulation at 4 Hz caused a slight reduction (4%) in muscle flow, but had no measurable effect on submucosal-mucosal flow; stimulation at 8 and 16 Hz caused muscle flow to decrease to 58.3 +/- 8.7% (SE) and 31 +/- 5.1%, respectively, of control flow, and mucosal flow, to 73 +/- 3.4% and 54.1 +/- 1.2%, respectively, of control flow. Calculations of muscle and mucosal vascular resistances from flows and microvascular pressures indicate that muscle resistance increased proportionately more than mucosal resistance at 4 and 8 Hz. However, during stimulation at 16 Hz, the mucosal resistance is only 55% of control, and muscle resistance is not significantly (P less than 0.05) different from control. Therefore, reduction of muscle and mucosal flows during 16-Hz stimulation must be caused by the intestinal arterioles and venules in series with these vasculatures.
Bohlen et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
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