Baseline Blood Flow and Antidromic Vasodilation in Normal and Inflamed Rat Skin PDF

Keywords

inflamed skin, blood flow, rat skin

Abstract

Blood flow in the rat skin was measured by laser Doppler flowmeter under normal conditions and after mild inflammation. Skin inflammation was induced either by a single subcutaneous injection (50 µl) of 2% carrageenan solution orby repeated topical treatment with chloroform over three days (once daily). In normal skin, the mean baseline blood flow is 57.7 ± 3.7 arbitrary units (n= 96), but has increased to 78.5 ± 8.7 arbitrary units (n = 48) in the carrageenan inflamed skin, and to 144.6 ± 16.9 arbitrary units (n = 48) in chloroform inflamed skin. Antidromic stimulation of the saphenous nerve (0.2 - 5.0 mA, 0.5 ms, 1 Hz) for 10 seconds has increased the blood flow in normal skin to 77.3 ± 9.0% (n = 25), and in carrageenan inflamed skin to 104.8 ± 9.6% (n = 57). The results show that the cutaneous neurovascular responses are elevated under the conditions of acute inflammation.