Muscle contraction-induced steal model in the anesthetized cat

Abstract

The current study describes a model in the anesthetized cat which may be used to investigate pharmacological interventions for the treatment of vascular “steal” during muscle contraction. An artificial stenosis was placed around both the descending abdominal aorta and the left external iliac artery. Arterial blood flow was measured in the right and left external iliac and right femoral arteries. Contraction of the left hindquarters, induced by electrical stimulation of the left sciatic and femoral nerves, resulted in an increase of left iliac artery blood flow from 14.7 ± 2.0 to 30.5 ± 2.8 ml min −1 (p<0.001). A simultaneous reduction of blood flow measured at the level of the right femoral artery (6.7 ± 0.1 to 4.5 ± 0.7 ml min −1, p<0.01) was observed in the noncontracting hindlimb (y = 7.76 − 0.10x, correlation coefficient = −0.865). The magnitude of each response was reproducible within the same animal. Administration of 8-phenyltheophylline, a nonselective antagonist of adenosine receptors, reduced the functional hyperemia response within the left external iliac artery by 32% and reduced the “steal” from the vascular bed perfused by the right femoral artery by 21%.