Description:
<jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Cervical spinal cord injuries (CSCI) subjects have hypotension and most of physicians have believed that capillary pressure in CSCI would be decreased and easily formed pressure ulcers. Systemic blood pressure (BP) decreases are mainly caused by attenuated total peripheral resistance in CSCI. However, BP in capillary was not measured in CSCI. We hypothesized that the measurement of peripheral pressure such as arteriole pressure and capillary pressure could be a simple and efficient means of expecting to occur with lasting tissue damage for CSCI. The purpose of the present study was to investigate capillary BP in CSCI.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>Eleven male CSCI individuals with a lesion between C6 and C7 (ASIA A, age, 32.5 +/− 2.8 y) and 13 healthy subjects (age, 40.1 +/− 3.5 y) participated in the present study. Measurements were performed in the supine position with the legs at heart level. To measure capillary BP, a pressure transducer with probe of Laser Tissue Blood Flowmeter was attached to the pretibial skin and the probe was gradually and continually compressed for five seconds until the output signal of the flowmetry showed constant values. When the output of the velocimeter showed constant values, the pressure of the probe compression should mean the Capillary BP. Because the termination of capillary blood flow demonstrated constant signals of velocimeter and at the time the compression pressure should be the capillary pressure. Simultaneously, systolic and diastolic BP was non‐invasively measured during the measurement on the contralateral arm of the blood flow measuring leg.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>A significant lower MBP was observed in CSCI (76.7 +/−3.9 mm Hg) than in healthy subjects (91.0 +/− 4.0 mm Hg). Capillary BP in CSCI (55.7 +/− 2.0 mm Hg) was significantly greater than in control subjects (45.9 +/− 2.3 mm Hg).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>We demonstrated here that transection of sympathetic nervous system from medulla to peripheral nerves in CSCI resulted in the increase of capillary pressure. We suggested that the cervical spinal transection diminished tonic impulses of sympathetic nerves to resistant vessels in CSCI.</jats:p><jats:p>This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in <jats:italic>The FASEB Journal</jats:italic>.</jats:p></jats:sec>