Spontaneous contractile activity is the most important property of small lymphatic vessels since it ensures the fulfillment of their main function - the propulsion of lymph in the direction from the lymphatic capillaries to the lymph nodes. Experimental research and diagnostic assessment of the state of the contractile mechanisms of the structural element of the lymphatic vessel - lymphangion - require, among other things, reliable non-destructive methods to start its contraction cycle at the will of the researcher. In this paper, we propose to use as a tool a highly localized laser radiation focused on the cells of the vascular wall of the lymphangion. We implement this method using laser with a wavelength of 405 nm focused to a spot with a diameter of 10-14 micrometres. The obtained results show a reliable and reproducible response of the lymphangion in the form of a single contraction or their sequence. We also compare the characteristics of such induced contractions with a case of spontaneous activity.
While vasoreactivity of an individual blood vessel is quite well studied, much less in known about stimulustriggered behavior of microcirculatory networks in situ. The available experimental data on topic suggest that the response pattern of the network, being the coordinated change of flow through the group of vessel, asa well as adjusment of their diameters, ofthen can be found inconsistent with what is expected from ”system of elastic tubes”. Physiologically, this is due to autoregulation of vascular tone by means of number of pathways, mediated by cells that form two main cellular layers - the endothelial cells and the vascular smooth muscle cells. Since it is still not easy to measure simulteneously bothe the flow/diameter and the degree of activation of smooth muscle cells, the mathematical modeling study on topic is very suitable. In this work we present the results of modeling study performed on the set of 20 different variants of 14-vessels vascular tree. Our results show three distinctive stages of vascular response to the abrupt change of conditions (occlusion of one of vessels).
While vasoreactivity of an individual blood vessel is quite well studied, much less in known about stimulustriggered behavior of microcirculatory networks in situ . the available experimental data on topic suggest that the response pattern of the network, being the coordinated change of flow through the group of vessel, asa well as adjusment of their diameters, ofthen can be found inconsistent with what is expected from ”system of elastic tubes”. Physiologically, this is because of autoregulation of vascular tone by means of number of pathways, mediated by cells that form two main cellular layers - the endothelial cells and the vascular smooth muscle cells. Since it is still not easy to measure simulteneously bothe the flow/ diameter and the degree of activation of smooth muscle cells, the mathematical modeling study on topic is very suitable. In this work we present the results of modeling study performed on the set of 20 different variants of 14-vessels vascular tree. Our results show three distinctive stages of vascular response to the abrupt change of conditions (occlusion of one of vessels).
The assessment of functioning microcirculatory network implies usage of adequate tools for testing the network responses on local changes of vessels state. While there are well-developed and widely used methods, such as focal application of vasoactive substances, or electric stimulation, there is a need for a non-destructive (and ideally – non-contact) and local method of impact a single vessel in order to trigger the network responce.
In this paper, we investigate the possibility of applying the effect of a reversible change in the diameter of a blood vessel caused by laser radiation as a functional test of a microcirculatory system. For this purpose, we combine this effect with the method of micro-PIV (particle image velocimetry), which provides information on both the dynamics of blood flow in neighboring segments and the changes in their diameters.
A method for measuring of blood velocity in the native vasculature of a chick embryo by the method of micro anemometry from particle images (μPIV) is improved. A method for interrogation regions sorting by the mask of the vasculature is proposed. A method for sorting of the velocity field of capillary blood flow is implemented. The in vitro method was evaluated for accuracy in a glass phantom of a blood vessel with a diameter of 50 μm and in vivo on the bloodstream of a chicken embryo, by comparing the transverse profile of the blood velocity obtained by the PIV method with the theoretical Poiseuille laminar flow profile.
Photoplethysmography is an optical technique that can be used to detect blood volume changes and to measure important physiological parameters. This is low cost and non-invasive technique. However, one has to apply sensor directly to the skin. In this regard, the development on remote mothods receives the growing attention, such as imaging photoplethysmography (iPPG). Note, most of public-available iPPG systems are based on smartphone-embedded cameras, and thus have a sample frequency about 30-60 frames per second, which is enough for heart rate measurements, but may be too low for some more advanced usages of this technique. In our work, we describe the attempt to use smartphone-based iPPG technique aimed to measure the tiny mismatch in RR interval data series recorded from left and right arms. We use the transmission mode iPPG, in which the light transmitted through the medium of finger is detected by a web-camera opposite the LED source. The computational scheme by processing and analysis of the received signal was implemented using MATLAB language (MathWork Inc. in the United States). We believe that further development of our approach may lead to fast and low cost method to access the state of the sympathetic nervous system.
We present adaptive micro-scale Particle Image Velocimetry (μPIV) technique for visualization of the capillary network blood flow microcirculation. The main idea of our method is a centering of the interrogation regions (IR) of the μPIV technique via capillary network masks. These masks were obtained by the algorithm of Niblack local binarization of the capillary network images for the each frame. Due to the inhomogeneous of red blood cells (RBCs) distribution, we have summarized the masks across a whole series of masks. The blood flow velocity map was measured within the limits of the resulting the mask. We illustrate step-by-step the blood flow velocity measurement method and we reconstruct velocity map for chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of chicken embryo.
Fluorescent angiography approach in application to a living chicken embryo is discussed. It provides precise vessel wall detection and demonstrates usefulness for real time monitoring of vasoconstriction and vasodilatation related to self regulation of vascular network as well as to response to external factors. On the other hand, high stability of fluorescence and long period of dye elimination makes variations of fluorescent intensity practically independent from fast variations of blood flow rate. Therefore, we proposed the improvement of fluorescent angiography technique by introduction of photobleaching fluorescent velocimetry approach. We have developed the imaging system for intravital microscopic photobleaching velocimetry and tested it by using a glass capillary tube as a model of blood vessel. We demonstrated high potential of the technique for instant flow velocity distribution profile measurement with high spatial and temporal resolution up to 2 μm and 60 ms, respectively.
We report the results on in ovo application of developed Laser Doppler Anemometer (LDA) device. The chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of 9-13 days chicken embryos was used as a biological model that allows an easy access to both arterial and venous vessels of different size. The key point of our study was to find out how the periodic and aperiodic pulsations of blood flow (which are inevitable in living organism) will affect the LDA functions and measuring capability. Specifically, we (i) developed the technique to extract and refine the pulse rhythm from the signal received from a vessel, and (ii) analyzed the changes in power spectra of LDA signal that are caused by heart beating and considerably complicate the reliable measurement of Doppler shift. Our main conclusion is that the algorithm of LDA data processing need to be improved, and this possibly can be done by counting the information on current phase of cardiac cycle.
We propose μPIV-based technique for quantitative assessment of blood flow redistribution in microcirculatory networks. Our approach is based on per-segment averaging of measured quantities so we can avoid most of problems that are typical for point-wise measurements. The key point of our technique is the digital processing algorithms of recorded data that include: capillary network axial line construction; interrogation regions centering; blood flow velocity local estimate using PIV approach; blood flow velocity calculation by means of averaging over entire vessel segment; the calculation of blood volume flow rate map. We illustrate the application of developed technique with in vivo measurements and blood flow velocity map reconstruction for chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of chicken embryo, in which the local vascular occlusion was produced using continuous wave laser light irradiation..
In spite of growing body of experimental and theoretical results on blood flow (BF) patterns under the continuously sustained circulation, much less is known about BF dynamics under the exceptional, but still important cases of venous or arterial occlusion used in medical probes. Since these conditions finally lead to complete or nearly complete stop of red blood cells (RBC) motion, we term it as TTBF, being the Terminal Transients of Blood Flow. An extreme case of such transients is the ultimate extinction of BF after the stopping of heart contractions, during which it is governed by gravitation, some vascular-originated propulsion mechanisms, and, possibly, by RBC aggregation. Quite little is known about this process, while reports the detectable post-mortal motion of mice RBC during at least 2 hours. In our work we present the modeling study of TTBF patterns due to gravitational forces. We present the minimalistic model configuration of vasculature in order to simulate what happens immediately after the pumping of blood has been stopped. Our main findings are concerned to reversal of arterial BF, as well as to duration and non-monotonicity of transients.
Assessment of pulse waves that recorded in the microvascular bed when the heart throwing blood appears to be the essential diagnostic method. The conventional non-invasive methods are mostly based on measurement of pulse wave velocity (PWV) which was proved to be the predictor of cardiovascular system state. Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a simple and low-cost optical technique that can be used to detect blood volume changes in the microvascular bed of tissue. Since many factors contribute to PWV formation, it shows considerable variability and sensitive to the current physiological state. Traditional mathematical methods that examine this variability in the frequency domain, such as Fourier analysis, not always the best choice since the non-stationary features of PWV signal. A relatively new, but already popular tool, Wavelet transform, allows multiresolution analysis in time-frequency domain of non-stationary signals. In our work we apply Wavelet Cross Spectrum (WCS) and Wavelet-Based Coherence (WBC) to reveal the similarities between two PWV time series recorded simultaneously from left and right arms. We find that the degree correlation and the time lag between these signals considerably depend on frequency range. On this basis, we hypothesize the systemic (neurogenic) origin of high-frequency (0.2 Hz) PWV variations.
The elimination of low-frequency noise of breath and motion artifacts is one of the most difficult challenges of preprocessing rheographic signal. The data filtering is the conventional way to separate useful signal from noise and interferences. Conventionally, linear filtering is used to easy design and implementation. However, in some cases such techniques are difficult, if possible, to apply, since the data frequency range is overlapped with one of interferences. Specifically, it happens in aortic rheography, where some breathing process and pulmonary blood flow contributions are unavoidable. We suggest an alternative approach for breathing interference reduction, based on adaptive reconstruction of baseline deviation. Specifically, the computational scheme based on multiple calculation of Akima splines is suggested, implemented using C# language and validated using surrogate data. The applications of proposed technique to the real data processing deliver the better quality of aortic valve opening detection.
A method is presented to obtain information on tissue perfusability from capillary velocimetry experiments coupled with venous occlusion probe. The method based on data fitting to developed mathematical model describing the blood flow redistribution caused by the introduced occlusion. Using mathematical modeling, we identify the segment of velocity time courses that corresponds to tissue swelling process and thus allows ones quantify it. We also compared the results of direct measurement of red blood cells (RBCs) velocity with time courses obtained from finger-placed sensors of two types: (i) photoplethysmographic sensor used in pulsometry and (ii) piezoelectric sensor for sphygmography. The obtained results suggest the measurable contribution of RBCs aggregation process in optical pulse signal formation.
We address the problem of conducted vasodilation, the phenomenon which is also known as functional hyperemia. Specifically, we test the mechanism of nondecremental propagation of electric signals along endothelial cell layer recently hypothesized by Figueroa et al. By means of functional modeling we focus on possible nonlinear mechanisms that can underlie such regenerative pulse transmission (RPT). Since endothelial cells (EC) are generally known as electrically inexcitable, the possible role of ECs in RPT mechanisms is not evident. By means of mathematical modeling we check the dynamical self-consistency of Figueroa's hypothesis, as well as estimate the possible contribution of specific ionic currents to the suggested RPT mechanism.
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