HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (10) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Pries, A. R. Articles by Secomb, T. W. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Pries, A. R. Articles by Secomb, T. W.

8TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON RESISTANCE ARTERIES
New Developments in Resistance Artery Research: From Molecular Biology to Bedside

Control of blood vessel structure: insights from theoretical models

¹Department of Physiology, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin; ²Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin, Berlin, Germany; and ³Department of Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Submitted 27 July 2004 ; accepted in final form 14 September 2004

Blood vessels are capable of continuous structural adaptation in response to changing local conditions and functional requirements. Theoretical modeling approaches have stimulated the development of new concepts in this area and have allowed investigation of the complex relations between adaptive responses to multiple stimuli and resulting functional properties of vascular networks. Early analyses based on a minimum-work principle predicted uniform wall shear stress in all segments of vascular networks and led to the concept that vessel diameter is controlled by a feedback system based on responses to wall shear stress. Vascular reactions to changes in transmural pressure suggested feedback control of circumferential wall stress. However, theoretical simulations of network adaptation showed that these two mechanisms cannot, by themselves, lead to stable and realistic network structures. Models combining reactions to fluid shear stress, circumferential stress, and metabolic status of tissue, with propagation of stimuli upstream and downstream along vascular segments, are needed to explain stable and functionally adequate adaptation of vascular structure. Such models provide a basis for predicting the response of vascular segments exposed to altered conditions, as, for example, in vascular grafts.

microvascular networks; microcirculation; vessel grafts; wall stress; shear stress

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. L. Ellsworth, C. G. Ellis, D. Goldman, A. H. Stephenson, H. H. Dietrich, and R. S. Sprague Erythrocytes: Oxygen Sensors and Modulators of Vascular Tone Physiology, April 1, 2009; 24(2): 107 - 116. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]