Autoregulation of Blood Flow: Vessel Diameter Changes in Response to Different Temperatures

Abstract

Background: Autoregulation of blood flow is a marvelous phenomenon balanc- ing blood supply and tissue demand. Although many chemically-based explanations for this phenomenon have been proposed and some of them are commonly used today, biomechanical aspects of this phenomenon was neglected. The biomechanical aspect provides insights to us to model vessel diameter changes more precisely and comprehensively. One important aspect of autoregulation phenomenon is temperature changes of the tissue resulted from tissue metabolism. We hypothesize that tempera- ture changes can affect the mechanical properties of the vessel wall leading to vessel diameter changes during autoregulation. Mechanical modeling of vessel diameter changes can also be useful to explain other phenomena in which the vessel diameter changes in response to temperature alterations. Through the mechanical modeling of any vessel, the analysis of temperature-induced changes in vessel diameter can be done more precisely.