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Circulation Research. 1995;77:1017-1023

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(Circulation Research. 1995;77:1017.)
© 1995 American Heart Association, Inc.


Articles

Design Principles of Vascular Beds

Axel R. Pries, Timothy W. Secomb, Peter Gaehtgens

From the Department of Physiology (A.R.P., P.G.), Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), and the Department of Physiology (T.W.S.), University of Arizona, Tucson.

Correspondence to A.R. Pries, MD, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Physiology, Arnimallee 22, D-14195 Berlin, Germany.

Abstract Hemodynamic parameters were determined in each vessel segment of six complete microvascular networks in the rat mesentery by using a combination of experimental measurements and theoretical simulations. For a total number of 2592 segments, a strong unified dependence of wall shear stress on intravascular pressure for arterioles, capillaries, and venules was obtained. All three types of segments exhibit an essentially identical variation of shear stress from high to low values (from {approx}100 to 10 dyne/cm2) as intravascular pressure falls from 70 to 15 mm Hg. On the basis of these observations, it is proposed that vascular beds grow and adapt so as to maintain the shear stress in each vessel at a level that depends on local transmural pressure. In contrast to Murray’s classic ‘minimum-cost’ hypothesis, which implies uniformity of wall shear rate throughout the vasculature, the proposed design principle provides an explanation for the functionally important arteriovenous asymmetry of wall shear rates and flow resistance in the circulation.


Key Words: shear stress • intravascular pressure • growth • optimal design • vascular remodeling




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