These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Dynamics of local pressure-induced cutaneous vasodilation in the human hand.
    Author: Abraham P, Fromy B, Merzeau S, Jardel A, Saumet JL.
    Journal: Microvasc Res; 2001 Jan; 61(1):122-9. PubMed ID: 11162202.
    Abstract:
    We recently demonstrated that a pressure-induced vasodilation results from local nonnociceptive stimulation of the skin of the human hand. We aimed to test the hypothesis that this vasodilation was not a short-lived response to a single type of pressure strain, but could be a widely activated and prolonged protective cutaneous response. We studied the dynamics of pressure-induced vasodilation during various ramp changes in local externally applied pressure using laser Doppler flowmetry. Changes from an adjacent control probe were subtracted from pressure-induced local changes. Following an initial transient decrease, continuous 4.4, 5.6, and 11.1 Pa.s(-1) increases of pressure resulted in a secondary increase of blood flow whose amplitude was maximal for 11.1 Pa.s(-1) (22.9 +/- 12.6% above baseline) (mean +/- SEM). The increase in flow was not noted at 16.7 Pa.s(-1). If the 16.7 Pa.s(-1) ramp pressure increase was interrupted at min 2 or 4, a prolonged vasodilation response was found, but not if it was stopped at min 8. When the 16.7 Pa.s(-1) increasing pressure was returned to zero after 4 min of pressure increase (-8.1 +/- 8.9% before pressure removal), vasodilation occurred and reached a maximum of 26.0 +/- 9.6% at 7 min after removal of pressure (P < 0.05 from baseline). Pressure-induced vasodilation is a slow-responding and transient adaptive phenomenon, initiated by a wide range of pressure changes below the range of noxious stimulation. We propose that this response is a protective mechanism without which certain pressure-associated lesions may develop.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]