Integrating Ultrasound and Optical Modalities to Characterize the Coupling Between Macrovascular and Microvascular Tone Dynamics
Andrey A. Sagaidachnyi1, Andrey V. Antonov1, Artyom S. Bakhmetyev1,2, Dmitryi I. Mayskov1, Ivan S. Zaletov1, Anatoly V. Skripal1; 1Saratov State University, Saratov, Russia; 2Saratov State Medical University, Saratov, Russia
Abstract
Ultrasound imaging and Doppler ultrasonography are employed to assess vascular wall structure, lumen regulation, and blood flow velocity in conduit arteries. Laser Doppler flowmetry is an informative technique for investigating regulatory processes within the microcirculatory bed. However, these modalities are most commonly used by researchers in isolation: one set of studies focuses solely on macrovascular function, whereas another addresses microvascular function. Nevertheless, the macro- and microcirculatory beds constitute interconnected compartments of a unified vascular system, implying that bidirectional relationships may exist, whereby conduit artery function may influence microvascular hemodynamics and vice versa.
The aim of the present study was to determine, using bimodal measurements, how changes in microvascular tone in the digital region affect blood flow velocity parameters in the radial conduit artery.
Our findings demonstrate that alterations in microvascular tone not only affect the retrograde velocity waveform of radial artery blood flow velocity but also modify the deceleration phase of the systolic velocity peak. Thus, by employing a bimodal measurement approach, this work reveals a bidirectional coupling between microvascular tone dynamics and the Doppler waveform profile of a conduit artery. Collectively, these results indicate that bimodal measurements provide a more comprehensive characterization of regulatory processes in peripheral vessels, considered as an integrated network arising from the functional interplay between macro- and microvessels.
Speaker
Antonov A.V.
Saratov State University
Russia
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