Combined effects of autoregulation and vasoconstrictors on hindquarters vascular resistance

Relative contributions of local autoregulatory tone and vasoconstrictor tone to skeletal muscle vascular resistance were studied in anesthetized rats during hypertension produced by vasoconstrictor infusion. Rats were instrumented with a Doppler flow probe on the sacral aorta (SA) to measure blood flow and to allow calculation of vascular resistance. An occluder was placed on the SA and used to produce stepwise reductions in local perfusion pressure. Pressure-flow curves for the hindquarters were obtained in the absence and presence of elevated mean arterial pressure (MAP) produced by infusion of angiotensin II (ANG II; 50-1,247 ng.kg-1.min-1) or phenylephrine (PE; 2.5-12.4 micrograms.kg-1.min-1). Both ANG II and PE infusion increased MAP. For example, MAP was increased by ANG II from 91 to 134 mmHg and by PE from 89 to 156 mmHg. In addition, infusions of ANG II and PE produced dose-dependent rightward shifts in the hindquarters pressure-flow relationship. To examine the effect of pressure on the dose-response relationships of ANG II or PE, local perfusion pressure was adjusted to remain constant at various pressure levels that were independent of MAP during drug infusions. This produced a series of distinct dose-response curves with each curve defined by a different pressure level and with each characterized by a different maximum change in vascular resistance. If local perfusion pressure was not held constant but was permitted to increase with MAP, a compound dose-response curve was obtained in which the combined effects of the change in local pressure (i.e., autoregulation) and vasoconstrictor dose on vascular resistance could be discerned. These data demonstrate that hindquarters blood flow autoregulation continues to occur in the presence of vasoconstrictors. Consequently, autoregulatory mechanisms may be stimulated by any increase in MAP whether associated with systemic vasoconstrictor infusion or activation of neurohumoral pressor systems. The result is an amplified rise in local vascular resistance.