心脏与血管的相互影响

心脏与血管的相互影响早就引起生理学家们的兴趣，但其在临床医学上的广泛应用则是近几年的事．这主要归功于两大生物力学成就，一是应甩泵功能曲线和时变弹性元描述心脏功能，另一是应用输入阻抗来描述血管功能．本文系统地总结和评述了２０多年来国际上关于心脏与血管相互影响的研究发展概况．     

基于微流体装置的微血管网内红细胞流动和分布特性的研究简

实体肿瘤血管具有扩张、扭曲、不规则分支以及分支间连接絮乱等特征. 为了考察这些特征对血液流动的影响,将肿瘤血管简化为垂直相互贯通的微血管网,借助微流体实验装置,以一定浓度的红细胞悬液作为流动介质,研究红细胞在微血管网中的流动和分布特性. 具体实验方案如下：首先,采用软刻蚀技术,在聚二甲基硅氧烷（polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS）上加工出微血管网;然后,采用微注射泵控制微血管网入口处的红细胞悬液流量,使用倒置显微镜和高速摄影系统观察并记录实验过程;最后,通过Matlab 软件包Piv-lab 及高速摄影配套软件对获得的视频图像进行处理,提取红细胞在微血管网中的流动和分布数据. 数据处理结果显示,红细胞在微血管网中的流动和分布特性受悬液内的红细胞压积（hematocit, Hct）的影响. 红细胞随悬液Hct 的不同呈现2 种运动轨迹：一种为仅沿着轴向微管道流动;另一种是从轴向微管道流入并穿过径向微管道,再进入另一侧的轴向微管道. 另外,入口流量相同时,红细胞在微血管网中的流动速度随Hct 变化呈现不同,Hct 为3% 和5% 的红细胞速度要明显高于Hct 为1% 的红细胞速度.     

A robust method for high‐precision quantification of the complex three‐dimensional vasculatures acquired by X‐ray microtomography

The quantification of micro‐vasculatures is important for the analysis of angiogenesis on which the detection of tumor growth or hepatic fibrosis depends. Synchrotron‐based X‐ray computed micro‐tomography (SR‐µCT) allows rapid acquisition of micro‐vasculature images at micrometer‐scale spatial resolution. Through skeletonization, the statistical features of the micro‐vasculature can be extracted from the skeleton of the micro‐vasculatures. Thinning is a widely used algorithm to produce the vascular skeleton in medical research. Existing three‐dimensional thinning methods normally emphasize the preservation of topological structure rather than geometrical features in generating the skeleton of a volumetric object. This results in three problems and limits the accuracy of the quantitative results related to the geometrical structure of the vasculature. The problems include the excessively shortened length of elongated objects, eliminated branches of blood vessel tree structure, and numerous noisy spurious branches. The inaccuracy of the skeleton directly introduces errors in the quantitative analysis, especially on the parameters concerning the vascular length and the counts of vessel segments and branching points. In this paper, a robust method using a consolidated end‐point constraint for thinning, which generates geometry‐preserving skeletons in addition to maintaining the topology of the vasculature, is presented. The improved skeleton can be used to produce more accurate quantitative results. Experimental results from high‐resolution SR‐µCT images show that the end‐point constraint produced by the proposed method can significantly improve the accuracy of the skeleton obtained using the existing ITK three‐dimensional thinning filter. The produced skeleton has laid the groundwork for accurate quantification of the angiogenesis. This is critical for the early detection of tumors and assessing anti‐angiogenesis treatments.     

Assessment of tumor vasculature for diagnostic and therapeutic applications in a mouse model in vivo using 25-MHz power Doppler imaging

Objective

The blood flow rate in the microcirculation associated with angiogenesis plays an important role in the progression and treatment of cancer. Since the microvascular status of tumor vessels can yield useful clinical information, assessing changes in the tumor microcirculation could be particularly helpful for tumor evaluation and treatment planning.

Methods

In this study we used a self-developed 25-MHz ultrasound imaging system with a spatial resolution of 150 μm for assessing tumor-microcirculation development and the pattern of the vasculature in three tumor-bearing mice in vivo based on power Doppler images. The total Doppler power (DP) and color pixel density (CPD) revealed the presence of functional vessels distributed throughout a tumor volume. The vasculature distributions in the core and periphery were compared to the regulation of vasculature function, which facilitated determination of when the tumor grew rapidly.

Results

The data obtained from a quantified analysis of power Doppler images indicated that the tumor vascularity initially increased throughout the tumor. Both DP and CPD increased rapidly in the tumor periphery when the tumor volume exceeded 10 mm³.

Conclusion

Our preclinical findings suggest that power Doppler imaging could be useful for detecting the changes in tumor vascular perfusion and for determining the optimal treatment timing when a tumor begins its rapid volumetric growth.     

In vivo damage to chorioallantoic membrane blood vessels by porphycene-induced photodynamic therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) was performed in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) for the purpose of quantitative evaluation of several porphycenes as potential photosensitizers. Porphycenes are structural isomers of porphine possessing lower symmetry of the macrocycle and are characterized by 10-fold higher absorption at the therapeutic wavelengths for PDT (λ > 630 nm). PDT-induced damage to CAM blood vessels included vasoconstriction and blanching, as was monitored during irradiation and videotaped. Image analysis techniques enabled us to follow PDT-induced constriction of vessel diameter (to 50%), reduction of blood perfusion (to 40% lower optical density) and shrinkage of implanted tumours (to 10% of their original area). The observed PDT efficacy of functionalized porphycenes is positively correlated with the number of polar substituents.     

Constructal Optimizations of Line-to-Line Vascular Channels with Turbulent Convection Heat Transfer

The multi-scale line-to-line vascular channels (LVCs) widely exist in nature because of their excellent transmission characteristics. In this paper, models of LVCs with turbulent convection heat transfer are established. Based on constructal theory and the entropy generation minimization principle, the constructal optimizations of LVCs with any order are conducted by taking the angles at bifurcations as the optimization variables. The heat flux on the channel wall per unit length is fixed and uniform. The areas occupied by vasculature and the total volumes of channels are fixed. The analytical expressions of the optimal angles, dimensionless total entropy generation rate and entropy generation number (EGN) of LVCs with any order versus dimensionless mass flow rate are obtained, respectively. The results indicate that the dimensionless total entropy generation rate of LVCs with any order can be significantly decreased by optimizing the angles of LVCs, which is significantly more when the order of LVCs is higher. As the dimensionless mass flow rate increases, the optimal angles of LVCs with any order remain unchanged first, then the optimal angles at the entrance (root) increase, and the other optimal angles decrease continuously and finally tend to the respective stable values. The optimal angles of LVCs continue to increase from the entrance to the outlet (crown), i.e., the LVCs with a certain order gradually spread out from the root to the crown. The dimensionless total entropy generation rate and EGN of LVCs first decrease and then increase with the growth of the dimensionless mass flow rate. There is optimal dimensionless mass flow rate, making the dimensionless total entropy generation rate and the EGN reach their respective minimums. The results obtained herein can provide some new theoretical guidelines of thermal design and management for the practical applications of LVCs.