Functional Evaluation of the Perivascular Innervation of the Skin of the Extremities Using Laser Doppler Flowmetry

Examination of 30 healthy subjects and 132 patients with hand denervation syndrome who were aged 16 to 30 years demonstrated that laser Doppler flowmetry is a highly effective approach to both qualitative and quantitative characterization of the nervous regulation of the microvasculature and the perivascular innervation of the skin. To study the sympathetic adrenergic perivascular innervation, it is expedient to evaluate the ratio between the neurogenic tone of afferent microvessels at rest and the decrease in microcirculation during the vasoconstrictive breath-holding test. The sensory peptidergic component of control is evaluated by electric stimulation of nociceptive afferent nerves, which causes antidromic vasodilation. The results of the study demonstrate the possibility of both concordant and discordant changes in sympathetic vascular regulation and isolated predominance of functional activity of the sympathetic or sensory peptidergic components of perivascular innervation.