Alteration of pial vessel responses to blood pressure changes in rats after hypoxia

Previous studies in newborn lamb have shown impairment of cerebral blood flow autoregulation after hypoxia followed by reoxygenation. The present study was done to see if such a phenomenon existed in the adult rat and if it could be demonstrated at the level of the pial arterioles. Using an open cranial window preparation, we assessed the changes in pial vessel diameter during blood pressure alterations induced by hemorrhage and reinfusion of blood, before and after 30 s of hypoxia, in 15 male Sprague-Dawley rats. Mean diameters of pial arteries in the study group of rats were 128 +/- 54 microns before hypoxia and 141 +/- 61 microns after normoxia following hypoxia. The corresponding diameters in rats serving as time controls were 136 +/- 52 and 138 +/- 52 microns. Slopes of pial vessel diameters as a function of mean arterial blood pressures decreased significantly (p less than 0.05) after hypoxia from -0.86 +/- 0.45 to 0.03 +/- 0.66 (mean +/- SD). In the control rats not subjected to hypoxia, the slopes remained unchanged over a similar time period (-0.60 +/- 0.16 and -0.42 +/- 0.19). The negative slopes indicate that pial vessels dilate during hypotension and constrict during hypertension. Such vascular responses may play a role in autoregulation of cerebral blood flow. We found that a relatively brief period of hypoxia can cause a long-lasting impairment of vascular responses even after restoration of normoxia. These findings are consistent with a previous report of persistent impairment of cerebral blood flow autoregulation after a brief period of hypoxia.