A key clinical outcome for peripheral vascular disease (PVD) in patients is a progressive decay in skeletal muscle performance and its ability to resist fatigue with elevated metabolic demand. We have demonstrated that PVD in obese Zucker rats (OZR) is partially due to increased perfusion distribution heterogeneity at successive microvascular bifurcations within skeletal muscle. As this increas...

BLOOD FLOW DISTRIBUTION at rest and during exercise is intricately controlled by centrally driven neuroeffector mechanisms and circulating hormones (particularly epinephrine), local autacoids, and metabolites, all superimposed on the inherent or “myogenic” reactivity of the arterial smooth muscle. During exercise, the cardiac output of a trained athlete can increase 5-fold, and these mechanisms...

The head-down tilted whole body suspended (HDT/WBS) rat is recognized as a model that reproduces many of the responses seen during exposure to microgravity including an increase in systemic blood pressure. Functional alterations of microscopic blood vessels (arterioles) in skeletal muscle (cremaster muscle) were assessed for their role in the observed elevations of blood pressure associated wit...

Ionizing radiation exposure significantly alters the structure and function of microvascular networks, which regulate delivery of oxygen to tissue. In this study we use a hamster cremaster muscle model to study changes in microvascular network parameters and use a mathematical model to study the effects of these observed structural and microhemodynamic changes in microvascular networks on oxyge...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize evolutionarily-conserved molecular patterns originating from invading microbes. In this study, we were interested in determining if microbial ligands, which use distinct TLR2-containing receptor complexes, represent unique signals to the cell and can thereby stimulate unique cellular responses. Using the TLR2 ligands, R-FSL1, S-FSL1, Pam2CSK4, Pam3CSK4, and ...

We developed an organoid culture technique to study the mechanisms involved in arterial remodeling. Resistance arteries were isolated from rat cremaster muscle and mounted in a pressure myograph at 75 mmHg. Vessels were studied during a 4-day culture period in DMEM with either 2% albumin, 10% heat-inactivated FCS (HI-FCS) or 10% dialyzed HI-FCS (12 kDa cut off) added to the perfusate. The album...

Alterations in the structure, number, reactivity, contractility and sensitivity of resistance vessels of hypertensive animals have been reported. If the etiology of hypertension is due to one or a combination of these factors, it could logically be expected that the distribution of blood flow from the arterial to venous circulation through parallel microcirculatory circuits could be affected. T...