Laser doppler perfusion imaging of microvascular blood flow in the
rabbit tenuissimus muscle.
Lind[acute]en, Maria, Allan Sirsj[diaeresis]o, Lennart Lindbom, Gert
Nilsson, and Anders Gidl[diaeresis]of.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Link[diaeresis]oping
University, S-581 85 Link[diaeresis]oping, Sweden, Clinical Research
Center, Faculty of Health Sciences Link[diaeresis]oping University,
S-581 85 Link[diaeresis]oping, Sweden and Department of Physiology
and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, S-171 77 Stockholm,
Sweden
APStracts 2:0203H, 1995.
To evaluate a newly developed High Resolution-Laser Doppler Perfusion
Imager (HR-LDPI) for analysis of local tissue perfusion, blood flow
measurements in the rabbit tenuissimus muscle were carried out in
combination with intravital microscopic observation. The principle of
the LDPI-method is based on a low power laser beam scan of the
exposed tissue from which a two-dimensional color-coded perfusion map
is created through computerized signal analysis. The perfusion of the
tenuissimus muscle prepared for microscopic observation was analyzed
in an area of 5 mm 8 mm as the muscle was exposed to atmospheric
oxygen tension (20 kPa), a low oxygen tension (approximately 3 kPa),
and after vasodilatation induced by topical application of
Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). In selected areas free from larger vessels,
a significantly lower perfusion average reading was demonstrated
under high pO2 conditions as compared to low pO2 conditions
(p<0.05, n=5), and application of PGE2 gave rise to an average
reading significantly higher than that at low pO2 (p<0.01, n=6).
The results were in good agreement with the flow changes observed
microscopically, and the architecture of the microvascular network,
as depicted by in vivo micrographs, was clearly recognizable in the
perfusion images. In conclusion, blood flow changes induced by
various stimuli in the rabbit tenuissimus muscle were quantitated
with the HR-LDPI-method and could be spatially resolved in great
detail, illustrating the potential of using HR-LDPI for analysis of
local blood flow and to reveal spatial perfusion heterogeneity in
tissues.
Received 8 February 1995; accepted in final form 5 May 1995.
APS Manuscript Number H115-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Heart Circ. Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 26 May 1995.