Simultaneous measurement of microvascular blood flux and tissue oxygenation in human skin

Abstract

We have measured skin microvascular blood flux (PU) and microvascular oxygenation (SO2,%) simultaneously, using a combined OXY+flow+temperature probe (moorCP2T‐2000 probe with the moorVMS‐LDF and moorVMS‐OXY). Parameters were measured at the forearm in healthy participants at rest and during post‐occlusive reactive hyperaemia (PORH) (180 mmHg for 3 min) and local tissue warming (43oC for 20 min). The relationship between simultaneously measured flux and SO2 was best fitted by a decaying exponential with R2 = 0.744. There was also coherence between low frequency oscillations in resting flux and SO2 across the endothelial (0.64(0.12)) and neurogenic (0.60(0.12)) power spectral density bands (mean(SD)). These data demonstrate an association between a simultaneous measure of microvascular blood flux and microvascular oxygenation. Further, our data confirm that spontaneously occurring low frequency oscillations associated with flow motion are present in a measure of microvascular oxygenation and are closely associated with those in the simultaneously measured blood flux.Supported by the EPSRC and Diabetes UK