Indomethacin treatment or removal of the venular endothelium will attenuate functional arteriolar vasodilation in the hamster cremaster muscle. We tested the hypothesis that prostanoid release from venular endothelial cells was responsible for the functional vasodilation of the paired arteriole. The hamster cremaster muscle was prepared for in vivo microscopy and stimulated for 1 minute (10 V, ...

Microvascular responses in the cremaster muscle were compared with changes in mean arterial pressure and hindquarters vascular resistance during the development (initial 3 hours) of two-kidney one-clip renal hypertension in rats, to examine the possibility that an autoregulatory mechanism may contribute to the development of hypertension. Rats were anesthetized with urethane and chloralose and ...

OBJECTIVE Increased nitric oxide (NO) production in sepsis precipitates microcirculatory dysfunction. We aimed (i) to determine if NO is the key water-soluble factor in the recently discovered sepsis-induced deficit in arteriolar conducted vasoconstriction, (ii) to identify which nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoforms account for this deficit, and (iii) to examine the potential role of connexin37...

OBJECTIVE Embolotherapy is a potential means to treat a variety of cancers. Our approach-gas embolotherapy-introduces the droplets upstream from the tumor and then acoustically activates them to form bubbles for occlusion-a process known as ADV. We wanted to provide the first optical documentation of ADV, lodged bubbles, or vessel occlusion in vivo. METHODS We used the rat cremaster muscle fo...

BACKGROUND The proximity of capillaries, arterioles, and venules provides complex spatial relationships that lead to oxygen transfer among microvessels. Although a conceptual image of complex oxygen transfer among microvessels has been hypothesized, in vivo mapping of oxygen saturation (SO2) levels in microvessels had never been performed. METHODS AND RESULTS The oxygen profile of the arterio...

T-type calcium channels may be involved in the maintenance of myogenic tone. We tested their role in isolated rat cremaster arterioles obtained after CO(2) anesthesia and decapitation. Total RNA was analyzed by RT-PCR and Southern blotting for calcium channel expression. We observed expression of voltage-operated calcium (Ca(V)) channels Ca(V)3.1 (T-type), Ca(V)3.2 (T-type), and Ca(V)1.2 (L-typ...