Effects of sympathetic nerve blockades on low-frequency oscillations of human earlobe skin blood flow

Abstract

Earlobe skin blood flow measured by laser Doppler flowmetry often shows low-frequency oscillations with a frequency around 0.1 Hz. We evaluated the effects of different sympathetic blocking techniques on the oscillations. Power spectrum of 5-min time series of beat-to-beat peak earlobe skin blood flow showed a distinct spectral peak at a frequency around 0.1 Hz (mean±SD, 0.107±0.016 Hz). The power of the spectral peak measured as coefficient of component variance (CCV) was diminished with total spinal anesthesia (TSA, n=4) and cervicothoracic epidural anesthesia (CTEA, n=4; P<0.05 for both). The CCV was unchanged significantly with bilateral thoracic sympathetic ganglionic excision (TSGE, n=5). Right stellate ganglion block (RSGB, n=6) caused a trend towards an increase in the CCV on the right (blocked)-side ( P=0.072) but no change on the left (intact)-side. Cross-spectrum analysis revealed that the low-frequency oscillations were not coherent between the right- and left-side earlobes or with low-frequency oscillations in systolic blood pressure either before or after RSGB. TSA and CTEA are known to cause extensive sympathetic nerve blockade in a broad area, while TSGE and RSGB are known to cause local and partial sympathetic blockade. Our results suggest that although the low-frequency oscillations in earlobe skin blood flow may be mediated non-neurally, magnitude of the oscillations may be modified by sympathetic vasomotor tone.