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Received December 17, 2002
Accepted after revision February 5, 2003
1 Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Department of Medical Physics and Cardiovascular Research Institute, 1100 DE Amsterdam
2 Laboratory for Physiology, Institute for Cardiovascular Research, VU University Medical Centre, 1071 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
3 Academic Medical Centre, Department of Medical Physics, PO Box 22700, 1100 DE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: e.vanbavel{at}amc.uva.nl.
We tested the hypothesis that under physiological conditions, arterioles match their diameter to the level of shear stress. Haemodynamic and anatomical data were obtained in segments of the first-order arteriole of the rat cremaster muscle. Along this segment of ~10 mm in length, local blood pressure decreased from 68 ± 4 mmHg upstream to 54 ± 3 mmHg downstream (n = 5). Pulse pressure decreased from 8.2 ± 1.3 mmHg upstream to 4.1 ± 0.6 mmHg downstream. At the same locations, an increase in arteriolar diameter was measured in vivo, from 179 ± 4 µm upstream to 203 ± 4 µm downstream (n = 10). In vitro pressure-diameter relations of maximally dilated vessels showed that the passive diameter was larger in downstream than upstream segments over a 15-125 mmHg pressure range (n = 18). The wall stress was similar for the upstream vs. downstream location: 266 ± 16 vs. 260 ± 14 mm-2. However, shear stress decreased from 30 ± 5 to 21 ± 5 dyn cm-2 (300 ± 50 to 210 ± 50 µN cm-2; n = 4) along the artery. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that shear stress is not the only factor in determining vascular calibre. We suggest that arteriolar calibre may rather depend on an interplay between shear stress and the local pressure profile.
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