Analysis and Characterization of the Pressurization Response of an Artery Affected by Hypoxia

Abstract

Alterations in the regulation of blood vessel diameter, as a consequence of vascular diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, have created the need to assess vascular function through the measurement of vascular caliber (Lee et al., Ann Biomed Eng., 37(5):913-26 (2009)). Although the relationship between vessel diameter and blood flow seems simple, the in vivo behavior of the vasculature is complex, leading to the development of specific methods. Pressure myography stands out as a fundamental technique for measuring arterial diameter in isolated ex vivo preparations. This study implements pressure myography experiments on arteries, focusing on the quasi-static and dynamic characterization of blood vessels in the carotid arteries of adult rats, using a Holzapfel anisotropic constitutive model and numerical simulations through FEbio software. The animals are divided into three groups: a control group under normal oxygenation conditions, a group exposed to acute intermittent hypoxia (4 cycles), and a group subjected to chronic intermittent hypoxia (10 cycles). Additionally, experimental curves are analyzed to evaluate the distensibility of the carotid arteries (E. Rivera, Doctoral Thesis, University of Santiago de Chile, 2019).