The effects of vitamin E and selenium on blood flow to experimental skin burns in rats using the 133Xe clearance technique

The aim of the present experimental study was to determine and to compare the effects of vitamin E and of selenium on the blood flow to a wound region in rats, using the xenon-133 (133Xe) clearance technique. Burn wounds were made on the right thighs of rats followed by oral administration of vitamin E or selenium for a period of 10 days. The effect of vitamin E and of selenium individually on blood flow in the wound region was assessed before and after oral administration using the 133Xe clearance technique. Both vitamin E and selenium significantly increased the blood flow in the wound region (P<0.05). Our results in rats suggest that both vitamin E and selenium have beneficial effects on the skin wound healing process by increasing the skin blood flow.

Muscle Blood Flow during Intermittent Exercise: Comparison of the Microdialysis Ethanol Technique and 133Xe Clearance

1. Local skeletal muscle blood flow was monitored using the microdialysis ethanol technique and 133Xe clearance during intermittent isometric contractions (5 s on/10 s off) of the thigh at 0–60% of the maximal voluntary isometric contraction force. 2. A linear increase in blood flow over a 25-fold range was detected using both l33Xe clearance and the microdialysis ethanol technique. 3. The median correlation coefficient between percentage maximal voluntary isometric contraction force and the ethanol outflow/inflow ratio, a marker of blood flow, was r = −0.98 (−0.94 to −0.99) (median and range, n = 6). The corresponding correlation coefficient for 133Xe clearance was r = 0.97 (0.92–0.98), the correlation coefficient between the ethanol outflow/inflow ratio and 133Xe clearance being r = −0.92 (−0.89 to −0.94). 4. Dialysate glucose concentration, although affected by blood flow, was not always significantly correlated with blood flow changes (r = 0.70; 0.51-0.95). 5. It may be concluded that the ethanol technique provides a valid measure of changes in local skeletal muscle blood flow. The data furthermore show that a linear increase in thigh skeletal muscle blood flow exists during the studied protocol of intermittent isometric contractions.

What is the Blood Flow to Resting Human Muscle?

1. An investigation was carried out in five healthy lean adults to assess whether forearm and calf plethysmography largely reflect muscle blood flow as measured by 133Xe and whether there is substantial variability in the blood flow to muscles located at different sites in the body. 2. Blood flow to forearm and calf flexors and extensors, biceps, triceps and quadriceps was assessed using the 133Xe clearance technique. Blood flow to forearm skin and subcutaneous adipose tissue was also measured using the 133Xe clearance technique, whereas blood flow to the forearm and calf was measured using strain gauge plethysmography. 3. The mean blood flow to different muscles ranged from 1.4 ± 0.6 (gastrocnemius) to 1.8 ± 0.7 (forearm extensor) ml min−1 100 g−1 muscle (1.4 ± 0.6 and 1.9 ± 0.8 ml min−1 100 ml−1 muscle, respectively) but there were no significant differences between them. Forearm and calf blood flows (2.7 ± 0.3 and 3.0 ± 0.7 ml min−1 100 ml−1 limb tissue, respectively) were about 50% to more than 100% greater (P <0.025) than blood flow to the muscles within them (1.7 ± 0.5 and 1.4 ± 0.5ml min−1 100g−1 muscle, respectively, or 1.8 ± 0.6 and 1.5 ± 0.5 ml min−1 100 ml−1 muscle, respectively). In contrast, the blood flows to 100 g of forearm skin (9.1 ± 2.6 ml min−1 100 g−1) and adipose tissue (3.8 ± 1.1 ml min−1 100 g−1) were higher than the blood flow to 100 g of forearm (P <0.01 and not significant, respectively). 4. Although several possibilities can explain the discrepancy between muscle blood flow measured by 133Xe and blood flow to the distal limbs measured by plethysmography, the results suggest that non-muscular blood flow, especially that to skin, is substantially greater than muscular blood flow. Indeed, the overall blood flow to the forearm could be accounted for by summation of blood flows to individual constituent tissues, which were assumed to be present in proportions typical of lean subjects. The results have important implications in the use of arteriovenous catheterization studies for assessing flux of oxygen, carbon dioxide and metabolites across muscle.