title: Comparison of flow-mediated vasodilation in femoral and brachial arteries in healthy dogs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) measurements in brachial and femoral arteries of healthy dogs habituated to the assessment method, evaluate repeatability of these measurements, and investigate effects of blood pressure cuff inflation time on femoral artery FMD measurements.
  
  
  METHODS
  11 healthy adult Miniature Schnauzers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Arterial luminal diameter and blood flow velocity integral (FVI) were measured before and after cuff inflation of 5 minutes' (brachial and femoral arteries) or 3 minutes' duration (femoral artery) in separate experiments. A blood pressure cuff was inflated to > 200 mm Hg distal to each imaging site to increase local blood flow to induce reactive hyperemia. Changes in FVI after cuff deflation, FMD, and between-dog and within-dog coefficients of variation (CVs) were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After cuff inflation of 5 minutes' duration, greater changes were detected in median change in FVI and FMD of brachial arteries (174.0% and 8.0%, respectively), compared with values determined for femoral arteries (32.0% and 2.1%, respectively). Between-dog CV for brachial artery FMD was 34.0%, compared with 89.6% for femoral arteries, and within-dog CV was 32.5% for brachial arteries versus 51.6% for femoral arteries after cuff inflation of 5 minutes' duration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In healthy Miniature Schnauzers, FMD was greater and more repeatable in brachial arteries than in femoral arteries. Reactive hyperemia was inconsistently induced in femoral arteries following 3- or 5-minute cuff inflation times. Brachial, but not femoral, artery FMD measurement is a potentially useful research technique for measurement of endothelial function in dogs.
authors.affiliation: Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, NW1 0TU, England.
authors.forename: Ian D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Virginia Luis
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Fuentes
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wrigglesworth
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mort
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Elliott
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000662:veterinary*; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology; D004285:Dogs / Q000502:physiology*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology; D006940:Hyperemia; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014111:Tourniquets / Q000662:veterinary; D018617:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Pulsed / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary; D014664:Vasodilation