title: Vascular flow reserve as a link between long-term blood pressure level and physical performance capacity in mammals.
abstract: Mean arterial pressure (MAP) is surprisingly similar across different species of mammals, and it is, in general, not known which factors determine the arterial pressure level. Mammals often have a pronounced capacity for sustained physical performance. This capacity depends on the vasculature having a flow reserve that comes into play as tissue metabolism increases. We hypothesize that microvascular properties allowing for a large vascular flow reserve is linked to the level of the arterial pressure.To study the interaction between network properties and network inlet pressure, we developed a generic and parsimonious computational model of a bifurcating microvascular network where diameter and growth of each vessel evolves in response to changes in biomechanical stresses. During a simulation, the network develops well-defined arterial and venous vessel characteristics. A change in endothelial function producing a high precapillary resistance and thus a high vascular flow reserve is associated with an increase in network inlet pressure. Assuming that network properties are independent of body mass, and that inlet pressure of the microvascular network is a proxy for arterial pressure, the study provides a conceptual explanation of why high performing animals tend to have a high MAP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus N, Denmark Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus N, Denmark.
authors.forename: Christian B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Poulsen
authors.affiliation: Hans Christian Andersen Children's Hospital, Odense University Hospital, Odense C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mads
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Damkjær
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Bjørn O
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: Hald
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoophysiology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Niels-Henrik
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Holstein-Rathlou
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark jcbrings@sund.ku.dk.
authors.forename: Jens Christian B
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Jacobsen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D062186:Arterial Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology*; D008833:Microcirculation / Q000502:physiology; D055806:Microvessels / Q000502:physiology; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Blood pressure; endothelial function; flow reserve; microcirculation; model; resistance