Effects of Lumbar Acupuncture Stimulation on Blood Flow to the Sciatic Nerve Trunk - An Exploratory Study

2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 166-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motohiro Inoue ◽  
Tatsuya Hojo ◽  
Tadashi Yano ◽  
Yasukazu Katsumi
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Sciatic Nerve ◽  
Intermittent Claudication ◽  
Cauda Equina ◽  
Lumbar Vertebra ◽  
Pressure Change ◽  
Nerve Blood Flow ◽  
Doppler Flowmetry ◽  
Acupuncture Stimulation

Introduction Acupuncture may have a role in the treatment of intermittent claudication of the cauda equina due to lumbar spinal canal stenosis. The aim of this study was to explore the possible physiological mechanisms. Methods In a laboratory experiment, manual acupuncture was performed at a point adjacent to the sixth lumbar vertebra of 13 animals and its effect on sciatic nerve blood flow was measured using a laser Doppler flowmetry. Simultaneously, changes in blood pressure and cardiac rate were observed. Each animal was stimulated four to eight times, making a total of 58 experiments. Results Acupuncture stimulation did not produce consistent changes in sciatic nerve blood flow, with increased and decreased blood flow as well as no change in blood flow observed. Among the 58 individual experiments, sciatic nerve blood flow was increased in 33, reduced in 12, and unchanged in 13. Approximately half of the stimulations showed a correlation between blood flow and blood pressure change. Conclusion Our results indicate that lumbar acupuncture stimulation can have an influence on sciatic nerve blood flow. The effect is dependent not only on blood pressure but also other factors, for example vasodilator and vasoconstrictor nerve activity. This mechanism may contribute to a clinical effect on intermittent claudication of the cauda equina.

The Effect of Electrical Stimulation of the Pudendal Nerve on Sciatic Nerve Blood Flow in Animals

2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 145-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motohiro Inoue ◽  
Tatsuya Hojo ◽  
Miwa Nakajima ◽  
Hiroshi Kitakoji ◽  
Megumi Itoi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Sciatic Nerve ◽  
Pudendal Nerve ◽  
Systemic Blood Pressure ◽  
Nerve Blood Flow ◽  
Doppler Flowmetry ◽  
Canal Stenosis ◽  
Stimulation Of

Objective To investigate the mechanism of the clinical effect of electroacupuncture of the pudendal nerve on the lumbar and lower limb symptoms caused by lumbar spinal canal stenosis, we studied changes in sciatic nerve blood flow during electrical stimulation of the pudendal nerve in the rat. Methods Using rats (n=5), efferent electrical stimulation to the pudendal nerve was performed and sciatic nerve blood flow was measured with laser Doppler flowmetry. Simultaneously, changes in the blood pressure and cardiac rate were measured. Furthermore, the effect of atropine on these responses to the stimulation was also studied. Results Electrical stimulation of the pudendal nerve significantly increased blood flow in the sciatic nerve transiently without increasing heart rate and systemic blood pressure. The significant increase in the sciatic nerve blood flow disappeared after administration of atropine. Conclusion Electrical stimulation of the pudendal nerve causes a transient and significant increase in sciatic nerve blood flow. This response is eliminated or attenuated by administration of atropine, indicating that it occurs mainly via cholinergic nerves.

Increased sciatic nerve blood flow in diabetic rats: assessment by "molecular" vs. particulate microspheres

1997 ◽  
Vol 273 (1) ◽  
pp. E164-E173 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Chang ◽  
Y. Ido ◽  
W. LeJeune ◽  
J. R. Williamson ◽  
R. G. Tilton
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Sciatic Nerve ◽  
Reference Sample ◽  
Streptozotocin Diabetes ◽  
Diabetic Rats ◽  
Nerve Blood Flow ◽  
Doppler Flowmetry ◽  
Blood Flows ◽  
Microsphere Method ◽  
Onset Of Diabetes

Sciatic nerve blood flow in diabetic rats in typically increased or unchanged when assessed by the reference sample microsphere method in our laboratory. In contrast, blood flow is generally reported to be decreased approximately 50% when assessed with laser Doppler flowmetry or hydrogen clearance polarography. To address concerns that increased blood flow observed with microspheres might be anomalous because of their particulate nature and/or because insufficient numbers of microspheres are captured in the nerve, a plasma-soluble "molecular microsphere" ([3H]desmethylimipramine, mol wt = 266) and 11.3-micron 153Gd-labeled microspheres were injected sequentially to assess blood flow in rats with streptozotocin diabetes of 2-4 wk duration. Nerve blood flows in diabetic rats were increased 1.5- to 2-fold (vs. control rats) with both tracers; these increases were prevented by tolrestat, an inhibitor of aldose reductase. These observations indicate that blood flow in sciatic nerve (like that in retina and kidney) is increased early after the onset of diabetes and is 1) demonstrable with a plasma-soluble tracer as well as with particulate microspheres and 2) linked to increased metabolism of glucose via the sorbitol pathway.

Cortical cerebral blood flow cycling: anesthesia and arterial blood pressure

1995 ◽  
Vol 268 (2) ◽  
pp. H569-H575 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. C. Jones ◽  
J. L. Williams ◽  
M. Shea ◽  
K. A. Easley ◽  
D. Wei
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Cerebral Blood Flow ◽  
Pressure Change ◽  
Sprague Dawley ◽  
Doppler Flowmetry ◽  
Blood Withdrawal ◽  
Cranial Window ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Mean Pressure

Cycling of various cerebral metabolic substances, arterial vascular diameter, and flow has been noted by many workers at a frequency near 0.1 Hz. Suspicion that this phenomenon is dependent on the type of anesthesia led us to investigate the occurrence of cerebral blood flow (CBF) cycling with different anesthetics. Fifteen Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized with either pentobarbital (n = 5, 40–50 mg/kg), alpha-chloralose (n = 5, 60 mg/kg), or halothane (n = 5, 1–0.5%). Body temperature was maintained at 37 degrees C. Femoral arterial and venous catheters were placed, and a tracheotomy was performed, permitting artificial ventilation with 30% O2–70% N2. A closed cranial window was formed over a 3-mm diameter craniotomy. Mean arterial pressure (MABP), arterial partial pressures of CO2 and O2 (PaCO2 and PaO2), and pH were controlled and stabilized at normal values. CBF was determined using laser Doppler flowmetry. To induce cycling, MABP was transiently and repeatedly lowered by exsanguination. Fast Fourier analysis of selected 64-s flow recordings (n = 38) was performed. CBF cycling was observed, independent of the type of anesthesia, in all animals. In 36 epochs, cycling was induced when MABP was reduced to a mean pressure of 65 +/- 1.5 mmHg. The mean frequency and amplitude were 0.094 +/- 0.003 Hz and 6.6 +/- 0.5%, respectively. Cycling occurred without blood withdrawal in two epochs. With the use of the blood-withdrawal epochs (n = 36), all three anesthetics shared a common linear slope between amplitude and blood pressure (P < 0.02) and blood pressure change (P < 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Diabetes impairs sciatic nerve hyperemia induced by surgical trauma: implications for diabetic neuropathy

1997 ◽  
Vol 273 (1) ◽  
pp. E174-E184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Ido ◽  
K. Chang ◽  
W. LeJeune ◽  
R. G. Tilton ◽  
W. W. Monafo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Sciatic Nerve ◽  
Diabetic Rats ◽  
Surgical Trauma ◽  
Nerve Blood Flow ◽  
Doppler Flowmetry ◽  
Blood Flow Response ◽  
Flow Response ◽  
Surgical Exposure ◽  
Minimal Trauma

The most widely used methods to assess nerve blood flow in diabetics rats are hydrogen clearance polarography and laser Doppler flowmetry, techniques requiring surgical exposure of the nerve. In these experiments, we examined the hypothesis that the trauma of surgical exposure introduces an important and hitherto largely unrecognized variable that could account for discordant reports on nerve blood flow changes induced by diabetes. We used the noninvasive (for sciatic nerve) reference sample microsphere method to quantify sciatic nerve blood flow in unexposed va. surgically exposed nerves in rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes (at different temperatures and after curarization) and in unexposed vs. surgically exposed nerves in galactose-fed rats. Baseline resting blood flow in unexposed nerves in both animal models of diabetes was either normal or increased (but was decreased in diabetic rats given d-tubocurarine). Furthermore, the normal brisk hyperemic nerve blood flow response to the minimal trauma associated with surgical exposure of the nerve was markedly impaired in diabetic and in galactose-fed rats. Normalization of the blood flow response to trauma in galactose-fed rats by an aldose reductase inhibitor suggests that the impairment is linked to increased polyol pathway metabolism. These findings 1) confirm our previous findings that sciatic nerve blood flow in diabetic rats is increased or unchanged in unexposed nerves, while also confirming reports that in surgically exposed nerves blood flow is higher in control than in diabetic rats, and 2) indicate that blood flows in surgically exposed nerves are largely a measure of vascular responses to injury rather than (patho)physiological blood flow in undisturbed nerves.

The relationship between blood pressure and sciatic nerve blood flow velocity in rats with insulin-treated experimental diabetes

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Dylan Olver ◽  
Kenneth N Grisé ◽  
Matthew W McDonald ◽  
Adwitia Dey ◽  
Matti D Allen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Sciatic Nerve ◽  
Flow Velocity ◽  
Blood Flow Velocity ◽  
Experimental Diabetes ◽  
Nerve Blood Flow ◽  
The Relationship

Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide reduces hydrochloric acid-induced duodenal mucosal permeability

1993 ◽  
Vol 264 (2) ◽  
pp. G272-G279 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Nylander ◽  
E. Wilander ◽  
G. M. Larson ◽  
L. Holm
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide ◽  
Lesion Score ◽  
Morphological Examination ◽  
Mucosal Permeability ◽  
Doppler Flowmetry ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
51Cr Edta ◽  
Intestinal Polypeptide

The duodenum in anesthetized rats was perfused with HCl, and mucosal integrity was assessed by measuring the clearance of 51Cr-labeled EDTA from blood to lumen and/or by morphological examination (lesion score). Duodenal blood flow was determined by laser Doppler flowmetry and luminal alkalinization as well as H+ disappearance by backtitration. Intravenous infusion of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP; 13.5 micrograms.kg-1.h-1) increased luminal alkalinization threefold and decreased clearance of 51Cr-EDTA by 50%. VIP also decreased arterial blood pressure and induced a small and irregular decrease in duodenal blood flow. Perfusion with 10 mM HCl increased clearance of 51Cr-EDTA 2.1-fold, but the lesion score was not different from that in saline-perfused animals. Perfusion with 20 mM HCl increased clearance of 51Cr-EDTA four-fold and induced a greater lesion score than did 10 mM. Perfusion with either 10 or 20 mM HCl did not affect the duodenal blood flow. VIP reduced the rise in clearance of 51Cr-EDTA in response to 10 mM but not that to 20 mM HCl. Intravenous injection of prazosin (50 micrograms/kg) decreased luminal alkalinization, clearance of 51Cr-EDTA, blood pressure, and duodenal blood flow. In prazosin-pretreated rats, perfusion with 10 mM HCl increased clearance of 51Cr-EDTA 2.6-fold, and the lesion score was greater in this group than in animals infused with VIP. A positive linear correlation was obtained between HCO3- secretion and the mean rate of H+ disappearance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Synchronous and baroceptor-sensitive oscillations in skin microcirculation: evidence for central autonomic control

1997 ◽  
Vol 273 (4) ◽  
pp. H1867-H1878 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciano Bernardi ◽  
Daniel Hayoz ◽  
René Wenzel ◽  
Claudio Passino ◽  
Alessandro Calciati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Skin Blood Flow ◽  
Muscle Sympathetic Nerve Activity ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Doppler Flowmetry ◽  
Sympathetic Modulation ◽  
Baroreflex Stimulation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Spontaneous Fluctuations

To determine whether skin blood flow is local or takes part in general regulatory mechanisms, we recorded laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF; left and right index fingers), blood pressure, muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), R-R interval, and respiration in 10 healthy volunteers and 3 subjects after sympathectomy. We evaluated 1) the synchronism of LDF fluctuations in two index fingers, 2) the relationship with autonomically mediated fluctuations in other signals, and 3) the LDF ability to respond to arterial baroreflex stimulation (by neck suction at frequencies from 0.02 to 0.20 Hz), using spectral analysis (autoregressive uni- and bivariate, time-variant algorithms). Synchronous LDF fluctuations were observed in the index fingers of healthy subjects but not in sympathectomized patients. LDF fluctuations were coherent with those obtained for blood pressure, MSNA, and R-R interval. LDF fluctuations were leading blood pressure in the low-frequency (LF; 0.1 Hz) band and lagging in the respiratory, high-frequency (HF; ∼0.25 Hz) band, suggesting passive “downstream” transmission only for HF and “upstream” transmission for LF from the microvessels. LDF fluctuations were responsive to sinusoidal neck suction up to 0.1 Hz, indicating response to sympathetic modulation. Skin blood flow thus reflects modifications determined by autonomic activity, detectable by frequency analysis of spontaneous fluctuations.

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