title: Endocardial coronary microcirculation of the beating heart.
abstract: Direct and continuous observation of subendocardial (deep myocardial) microcirculation provides essential information on coronary circulation, since cardiac contraction affects subendocardial vessels most vigorously. To achieve this aim, we developed a portable needle-probe video-microscope with a charge-coupled-device (CCD) camera to visualize the subendocardial microcirculation. Images of the subendocardial microcirculation of a porcine beating heart were successfully observed in all cases. The vascular compression by cardiac contraction decreased the diameter of subendocardial arterioles and venules by about 20%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Engineering and Systems Cardiology, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Japan.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kajiya
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yada
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hiramatsu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ogasawara
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsujioka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D004699:Endocardium / Q000502:physiology*; D008833:Microcirculation / Q000502:physiology; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D013552:Swine; D014741:Video Recording