Network thermodynamic analysis of vasomotion in a microvascular network.

The modulation of microvascular blood flow by vasomotion in the individual vessels of a simple vascular network was simulated by means of a network thermodynamic model. The flow is driven under a pulsating pressure through two arcades of branching vasoactive arterioles into a passive resistance representing the capillary and venular beds. Each vessel was assumed to have the capability of decreasing rhythmically the local diameter over a short section by a specified fraction of the maximum value and to change the average diameter along its total length in response to alterations in intraluminal pressure. Blood was assumed to exhibit a simple linear viscous flow resistance. Alterations in flow rate and distribution through the network were determined as a function of the magnitude and frequency of vasomotion within the individual arterioles supplying blood to the microvascular bed. Specific cases are shown to illustrate how blood flow can be influenced by the patterns of vasomotion within the network.