The Relation Between Capillary Transit Times and Hemoglobin Saturation Heterogeneity

Part 2: Capillary Networks


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Date

2018-09-21

Publication Type

Journal Article

ETH Bibliography

yes

Citations

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Data

Abstract

Brain metabolism is highly dependent on continuous oxygen supply. Cortical microvascular networks exhibit heterogeneous blood flow, leading to non-uniform tissue oxygenation and capillary hemoglobin saturation. We recently proposed capillary outflow saturation heterogeneity (COSH) to represent effects of heterogeneity on oxygen supply to tissue regions most vulnerable to hypoxia, and showed that diffusive oxygen exchange among red blood cells within capillaries and among capillaries (diffusive interaction) significantly reduces COSH in simplified geometrical configurations. Here, numerical simulations of oxygen transport in capillary network geometries derived from mouse somatosensory cortex are presented. Diffusive interaction was found to reduce COSH by 41 to 62% compared to simulations where diffusive interaction was excluded. Hemoglobin saturation drop across the microvascular network is strongly correlated with red blood cell transit time, but the coefficient of variation of saturation drop is approximately one third lower. Unexpectedly, the radius of the tissue cylinder supplied by a capillary correlates weakly with the anatomical tissue cylinder radius, but strongly with hemoglobin saturation. Thus, diffusive interaction contributes greatly to the microcirculation's ability to achieve tissue oxygenation, despite heterogeneous capillary transit time and hematocrit distribution. These findings provide insight into the effects of cerebral small vessel disease on tissue oxygenation and brain function.

Publication status

published

Editor

Book title

Volume

9

Pages / Article No.

1296

Publisher

Frontiers Media

Event

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

Blood flows; Capillary transit time heterogeneity; Computational modeling; Hematocrit; Hemoglobin saturatio; Microcirculation; Oxygen transport; Red blood cells

Organisational unit

03644 - Jenny, Patrick / Jenny, Patrick check_circle

Notes

Funding

140660 - Oxygen Transport in the Cerebral Microcirculation (SNF)

Related publications and datasets

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