Role of nitric oxide in arteriovenular control of capillary perfusion and filtration

摘要

Several investigators in recent years have proposed that post-capillary venules may influence the tone of nearby countercurrent arterioles. A vasoconstrictive effect was reported by Zamboni et al. (1993), who found that ischemia-reperfusion caused arteriolar constriction, but only when the arterioles were paired with a post-capillary venule within a distance of 15μm. Additionally, the possibility that arterioles are dilated by venular release of nitric oxide has been supported by data fromBoegehold (1996), Falcone and Bohlen (1990), and Falcone and Meininger (1997). A hypothesis based on these reports is that capillary perfusion and filtration is dependent on the extent of arteriovenular pairing upstream of the capillary branch point. Wetested this hypothesis by 1) developing a quantitative measure of arteriovenular pairing, 2) determining whether arteriovenular pairing influences capillary perfusion and filtration, and 3) determining the effect of nitric oxide inhibition onarteriovenular control of capillary perfusion and filtration.