Distensibility of small arteries of the dog lung.

To obtain in situ measurements of the distensibility of small (100- to 1,000-microns-diam) pulmonary arterial vessels of the dog lung, X-ray angiograms were obtained from isolated lung lobes with the vascular pressure adjusted to various levels. The in situ diameter-pressure relationships were compared with the diameter-pressure relationships for small arteries that were dissected free from the lungs and cannulated with small glass pipettes for the measurement of diameter and transmural pressure. The diameter-vascular or diameter-transmural pressure curves from both in situ and cannulated vessels were sufficiently linear in the pressure range studied (0-30 Torr) that they could be characterized by linear regression to obtain estimates of D0, the diameter at zero vascular pressure, and beta, the change in diameter (micron) per Torr change in pressure. The vessel distensibility coefficient (alpha) was defined as alpha = beta/D0. The mean values of alpha were approximately 2.0 +/- 0.8%/Torr (SD) for the in situ vessels and 1.7 +/- 0.6%/Torr for the cannulated vessels, with no statistically significant difference between the two methods. The influence of vasoconstriction elicited by serotonin was evaluated in the in situ vessels. Serotonin-induced vasoconstriction caused a decrease in D0 and little change in alpha.     

Re-evaluation of genetic formulae and epistasis

Experimental verification of some quantitative results, following from the new theory for investigation of non-allelic genes' interactions in the diallele analysis by Hayman was conducted. We postulated earlier a special kind of epistasis HC which is the new explication of epistasis j--the interaction between homozygote and heterozygote by Mather and Jinks. Genetic interpretation of the epistasis HC establishes some relations between epistasis and the model of ecological-genetical control of quantitative characters. We found the invariant characteristic of genetic control which is stable in a number of characters, environments, treatments, inspite of redetermination of genetic formulae under conditions of environmental variability.     

Distensibility and pressure-flow relationship of the pulmonary circulation. II. Multibranched model

The contribution of distensibility and recruitment to the distinctive behavior of the pulmonary circulation is not known. To examine this question we developed a multibranched model in which an arterial vascular bed bifurcates sequentially up to 8 parallel channels that converge and reunite at the venous side to end in the left atrium. Eight resistors representing the capillary bed separate the arterial and venous beds. The elastic behavior of capillaries and extra-alveolar vessels was modeled after Fung and Sobin (Circ. Res. 30: 451-490, 1972) and Smith and Mitzner (J. Appl. Physiol. 48: 450-467, 1980), respectively. Forces acting on each component are modified and calculated individually, thus enabling the user to explore the effects of parallel and longitudinal heterogeneities in applied forces (e.g., gravity, vasomotor tone). Model predictions indicate that the contribution of distensibility to nonlinearities in the pressure-flow (P-F) and atrial-pulmonary arterial pressure (Pla-Ppa) relationships is substantial, whereas gravity-related recruitment contributes very little to these relationships. In addition, Pla-Ppa relationships, obtained at a constant flow, have no discriminating ability in identifying the presence or absence of a waterfall along the circulation. The P-F relationship is routinely shifted in a parallel fashion, within the physiological flow range, whenever extra forces (e.g., lung volume, tone) are applied uniformly at one or more branching levels, regardless of whether a waterfall is created. For a given applied force, the magnitude of parallel shift varies with proportion of the circulation subjected to the added force and with Pla.     

Dynamic Local Distensibility of Living Arteries and its Relation to Wave Transmission

The dynamic local distensibility of the abdominal aorta was measured in 11 anesthetized dogs by recording simultaneously phasic pressure and instantaneous intravascular cross-sectional area, utilizing a special transducer. Axial motion of the vessel wall was recorded using a modification of the same transducer. A nonlinear relationship was found to exist between area and pressure in most cases studied. Fourier analysis was performed on data from eight experiments in order to obtain frequency characteristics of distensibility. In roughly half of the cases, Fourier analysis revealed that pressure variations displayed a phase lead over area variations for frequencies up to 10 Hz. This phenomenon was ascribed to viscoelastic properties of the vessel wall and the magnitude of the phase leads roughly matched those found in vitro by others. The behavior of the vessel wall in these instances was correctly predicted by the dynamic formula for distensibility, derived by others from wave transmission theory in which absence of axial wall motion is assumed. In these experiments, axial motion of the wall was found to be virtually absent. In the other half of the cases, the reverse situation was obtained: a phase lead of area variations over pressure variations for frequencies up to 15 Hz. In those cases a craniocaudal axial displacement of the vessel wall was observed with each systole, amounting to around 1 mm. The finding of the phase leads was partially explained by a dynamic formula for distensibility, developed by us from the theory of wave transmission in which free axial motion of the wall is a chosen boundary condition. The sign and order of magnitude of the phase leads were correctly predicted by the theoretical formula, but there was a disagreement on the frequency range in which they occurred. We concluded that additional forces, not yet considered in theoretical treatments, are operative on the aortic wall, which account for this lack of agreement. The frequency dependent properties of distensibility in vivo cannot be compared to those obtained in vitro in those cases in which there is axial displacement of the vessel wall of the same order of magnitude as the radial extensions.