scholarly journals Influence of Migraine on Axon Reflex-Mediated and Endothelial-Dependent Vasodilatation in the Skin

Author(s):  
Aelita Plinta ◽  
Pēteris Tretjakovs ◽  
Ināra Logina ◽  
Indra Miķelsone ◽  
Leons Blumfelds ◽  
...  

Abstract The aim of the study was to evaluate the changes in skin blood flow as a result of local heating tests in migraine patients during the interictal period, measured by laser Doppler perfusion imaging (LDI). The aim of the study was also to estimate the correlations between the results of these tests and interleukin (IL)-8 levels. Twelve migraine patients during their interictal period were compared with twelve healthy control subjects. Only women were included in the study. Both groups were matched with regard of their age, body mass index and blood pressure. For the purpose of measuring cutaneous microvascular blood flow, heating (+44 °C) of the dorsal side of the palm as a response to the local LDI was used. IL-8 was measured in serum by ELISA method. The findings suggested that migraine patients have a cutaneous vasomotor dysfunction during the interictal period. The results showed a significant decrease in the initial peak of vasodilation and the second peak of vasodilation (plateau phase). Also there were significant changes observed in the length of the time interval required to reach the first and second vasodilation peak. It is known that migraine patients have a shorter time interval to reach the first perfusion peak (axonal reflex-mediated) and longer time interval to reach the second peak (endothelium-dependent). The results confirmed the correlation between proinflammatory chemokine IL-8 levels, and the time interval till the second peak of blood flow in all study subjects.

2001 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 1619-1626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher T. Minson ◽  
Latoya T. Berry ◽  
Michael J. Joyner

The mechanisms underlying the skin blood flow (SkBF) response to local heating are complex and poorly understood. Our goal was to examine the role of axon reflexes and nitric oxide (NO) in the SkBF response to a local heating protocol. We performed 40 experiments following a standardized heating protocol with different interventions, including blockade of the axon reflex (EMLA cream), antebrachial nerve blockade (0.5% bupivacaine injection), and NO synthase (NOS) inhibition (≥10 mM N G-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester; microdialysis). Appropriate controls were performed to verify the efficacy of the various blocks. Values are expressed as a percentage of maximal SkBF (SkBFmax; 50 mM sodium nitroprusside). At the initiation of local heating, SkBF rose to an initial peak, followed by a brief nadir, and a secondary, progressive rise to a plateau. Axon reflex block decreased the initial peak from 75+3 to 32 ± 2% SkBFmax ( P< 0.01 vs. control) but did not affect the plateau. NOS inhibition before and throughout local heating reduced the initial peak from 75 ± 3 to 56 ± 3% SkBFmax ( P< 0.01) and the plateau from 87 ± 4 to 40 ± 5%. NOS inhibition during axon reflex block did not further reduce the initial SkBF peak compared with axon reflex block alone. Antebrachial nerve block did not affect the local heating SkBF response. The primary finding of these studies is that there are at least two independent mechanisms contributing to the rise in SkBF during nonpainful local heating: a fast-responding vasodilator system mediated by the axon reflexes and a more slowly responding vasodilator system that relies on local production of NO.


2009 ◽  
Vol 106 (4) ◽  
pp. 1065-1071 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noortje T. L. Van Duijnhoven ◽  
Thomas W. J. Janssen ◽  
Daniel J. Green ◽  
Christopher T. Minson ◽  
Maria T. E. Hopman ◽  
...  

Spinal cord injury (SCI) induces vascular adaptations below the level of the lesion, such as impaired cutaneous vasodilation. However, the mechanisms underlying these differences are unclear. The aim of this study is to examine arm and leg cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC) responses to local heating in 17 able-bodied controls (39 ± 13 yr) and 18 SCI subjects (42 ± 8 yr). SCI subjects were counterbalanced for functional electrostimulation (FES) cycling exercise (SCI-EX, n = 9) or control (SCI-C, n = 9) and reanalyzed after 8 wk. Arm and leg skin blood flow were measured by laser-Doppler flowmetry during local heating (42°C), resulting in an axon-reflex mediated first peak, nadir, and a primarily nitric oxide-dependent plateau phase. Data were expressed as a percentage of maximal CVC (44°C). CVC responses to local heating in the paralyzed leg, but also in the forearm of SCI subjects, were lower than in able-bodied controls ( P < 0.05 and 0.01, respectively). The 8-wk intervention did not change forearm and leg CVC responses to local heating in SCI-C and SCI-EX, but increased femoral artery diameter in SCI-EX ( P < 0.05). Interestingly, findings in skin microvessels contrast with conduit arteries, where physical (in)activity contributes to adaptations in SCI. The lower CVC responses in the paralyzed legs might suggest a role for inactivity in SCI, but the presence of impaired CVC responses in the normally active forearm suggests other mechanisms. This is supported by a lack of adaptation in skin microcirculation after FES cycle training. This might relate to the less frequent and smaller magnitude of skin blood flow responses to heat stimuli, compared with controls, than physical inactivity per se.


2015 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 1530-1537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Metzler-Wilson ◽  
Kumika Toma ◽  
Dawn L. Sammons ◽  
Sarah Mann ◽  
Andrew J. Jurovcik ◽  
...  

Facial flushing in rosacea is often induced by trigger events. However, trigger causation mechanisms are currently unclear. This study tested the central hypothesis that rosacea causes sympathetic and axon reflex-mediated alterations resulting in trigger-induced symptomatology. Twenty rosacea patients and age/sex-matched controls participated in one or a combination of symptom triggering stressors. In protocol 1, forehead skin sympathetic nerve activity (SSNA; supraorbital microneurography) was measured during sympathoexcitatory mental (2-min serial subtraction of novel numbers) and physical (2-min isometric handgrip) stress. In protocol 2, forehead skin blood flow (laser-Doppler flowmetry) and transepithelial water loss/sweat rate (capacitance hygrometry) were measured during sympathoexcitatory heat stress (whole body heating by perfusing 50°C water through a tube-lined suit). In protocol 3, cheek, forehead, forearm, and palm skin blood flow were measured during nonpainful local heating to induce axon reflex vasodilation. Heart rate (HR) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were recorded via finger photoplethysmography to calculate cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC; flux·100/MAP). Higher patient transepithelial water loss was observed (rosacea 0.20 ± 0.02 vs. control 0.10 ± 0.01 mg·cm−2·min−1, P < 0.05). HR and MAP changes were not different between groups during sympathoexcitatory stressors or local heating. SSNA during early mental (32 ± 9 and 9 ± 4% increase) and physical (25 ± 4 and 5 ± 1% increase, rosacea and controls, respectively) stress was augmented in rosacea (both P < 0.05). Heat stress induced more rapid sweating and cutaneous vasodilation onset in rosacea compared with controls. No axon reflex vasodilation differences were observed between groups. These data indicate that rosacea affects SSNA and that hyperresponsiveness to trigger events appears to have a sympathetic component.


2002 ◽  
Vol 93 (5) ◽  
pp. 1644-1649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher T. Minson ◽  
Lacy A. Holowatz ◽  
Brett J. Wong ◽  
W. Larry Kenney ◽  
Brad W. Wilkins

Cutaneous vasodilation is reduced in healthy older vs. young subjects; however, the mechanisms that underlie these age-related changes are unclear. Our goal in the present study was to determine the role of nitric oxide (NO) and the axon reflexes in the skin blood flow (SkBF) response to local heating with advanced age. We placed two microdialysis fibers in the forearm skin of 10 young (Y; 22 ± 2 yr) and 10 older (O; 77 ± 5 yr) men and women. SkBF over each site was measured by laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF; Moor DRT4). Both sites were heated to 42°C for ∼60 min while 10 mM N G-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME) was infused throughout the protocol to inhibit NO synthase (NOS) in one site and 10 mM l-NAME was infused after 40 min of local heating in the second site. Data were expressed as a percentage of maximal vasodilation (%CVCmax; 28 mM nitroprusside infusion). Local heating beforel-NAME infusion resulted in a significantly reduced initial peak (Y: 61 ± 2%CVCmax vs. O: 46 ± 4%CVCmax) and plateau (Y: 93 ± 2%CVCmaxvs. O: 82 ± 5%CVCmax) CVC values in older subjects ( P < 0.05). When NOS was inhibited after 40 min of heating, CVC declined to the same value in the young and older groups. Thus the overall contribution of NO to the plateau phase of the SkBF response to local heating was less in the older subjects. The initial peak response was significantly lower in the older subjects in both microdialysis sites (Y: 52 ± 4%CVCmax vs. O: 38 ± 5%CVCmax; P < 0.05). These data suggest that age-related changes in both axon reflex-mediated and NO-mediated vasodilation contribute to attenuated cutaneous vasodilator responses in the elderly.


2011 ◽  
Vol 111 (6) ◽  
pp. 1561-1567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer J. DuPont ◽  
William B. Farquhar ◽  
Raymond R. Townsend ◽  
David G. Edwards

We sought to determine whether oxidative stress or a relative deficit of l-arginine plays a role in reducing cutaneous vasodilation in response to local heating in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Eight patients with stage 3–4 CKD and eight age- and sex-matched healthy control (HC) subjects were instrumented with four microdialysis (MD) fibers for the local delivery of 1) Ringers solution (R), 2) 20 mM ascorbic acid (AA), 3) 10 mM l-arginine (l-Arg), and 4) 10 mM NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME). Red blood cell (RBC) flux was measured via laser Doppler flowmetry. A standardized nonpainful local heating protocol (42°C) was used. Cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC) was calculated as RBC flux/MAP and all data were expressed as a percentage of the maximum CVC at each site (28 mM sodium nitroprusside, Tloc = 43°C). The plateau %CVCmax was attenuated in CKD (CKD: 76 ± 4 vs. HC: 91 ± 2%CVCmax; P < 0.05) and the NO contribution to the plateau was lower in CKD (CKD: 39 ± 7, HC: 54 ± 5; P < 0.05). The plateau %CVCmax in the CKD group was significantly greater at the AA and l-Arg sites compared with R (AA: 89 ± 2; l-Arg: 90 ± 1; R: 76 ± 4; P < 0.05) and did not differ from HC. Initial peak %CVCmax was also significantly attenuated at the R and l-Arg sites in CKD ( P < 0.05) but did not differ at the AA site. These results suggest that cutaneous microvascular function is impaired in stage 3–4 CKD and that oxidative stress and a deficit of l-arginine play a role in this impairment.


Diabetes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 1715-P
Author(s):  
KATHERINE ROBERTS-THOMSON ◽  
RYAN D. RUSSELL ◽  
DONGHUA HU ◽  
TIMOTHY M. GREENAWAY ◽  
ANDREW C. BETIK ◽  
...  

1996 ◽  
Vol 270 (5) ◽  
pp. H1696-H1703 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Mitchell ◽  
K. Tyml

Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to be a potent vasodilator released from endothelial cells (EC) in large blood vessels, but NO release has not been examined in the capillary bed. Because the capillary bed represents the largest source of EC, it may be the largest source of vascular NO. In the present study, we used intravital microscopy to examine the effect of the NO synthase inhibitor, NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), on the microvasculature of the rat extensor digitorum longus muscle. L-NAME (30 mM) applied locally to a capillary (300 micron(s) from the feeding arteriole) reduced red blood cell (RBC) velocity [VRBC; control VRBC = 238 +/- 58 (SE) micron/s; delta VRBC = -76 +/- 8%] and RBC flux (4.4 +/- 0.7 to 2.8 +/- 0.7 RBC/s) significantly in the capillary, but did not change feeding arteriole diameter (Dcon = 6.3 +/- 0.7 micron, delta D = 5 +/- 7%) or draining venule diameter (Dcon = 10.1 +/- 0.6 micron, delta D = 4 +/- 2%). Because of the VRBC change, the flux reduction was equivalent to an increased local hemoconcentration from 1.8 to 5 RBCs per 100 micron capillary length. L-NAME also caused an increase in the number of adhering leukocytes in the venule from 0.29 to 1.43 cells/100 micron. L-NAME (30 mM) applied either to arterioles or to venules did not change capillary VRBC. Bradykinin (BK) locally applied to the capillary caused significant increases in VRBC (delta VRBC = 111 +/- 23%) and in arteriolar diameter (delta D = 40 +/- 5%). This BK response was blocked by capillary pretreatment with 30 mM L-NAME (delta VRBC = -4 +/- 27%; delta D = 5 +/- 9% after BK). We concluded that NO may be released from capillary EC both basally and in response to the vasodilator BK. We hypothesize that 1) low basal levels of NO affect capillary blood flow by modulating local hemoconcentration and leukocyte adhesion, and 2) higher levels of NO (stimulated by BK) may cause a remote vasodilation to increase microvascular blood flow.


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