BACKGROUND Myocardial infarction (MI) has likely contributed to the increased prevalence of heart failure (HF). As a result of reduced cardiac function, splanchnic blood flow decreases, causing ischemia in villi and damage to the intestinal barrier. The induction of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) could prevent, or lessen the effects of stress and inflammation. Thus, the effect and mechanism thereof of...

THE QUESTION we are posing to the readers is why should we study the microcirculation of the heart. First, let us define who are “we.” In this issue of the American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology, a collection of papers are included as part of a Special Call on “Emerging Concepts in the Control of the Coronary Microcirculation.” It is obvious why the coronary microcircu...

Microcirculation plays a crucial role in the interaction between blood and tissue both in physiological and pathophysiological states. Orthogonal polarization spectral (OPS) and Side stream dark field (SDF) imaging are relatively new noninvasive methods that allow the investigation of mucosal sites, especially sublingual area, particularly in critically ill patients. OPS imaging has been valida...

AIM OF STUDY Intrathoracic pressure regulation (IPR) has been used to treat hypotension and states of hypoperfusion by providing positive pressure ventilation during inspiration followed by augmentation of negative intrathoracic pressure during expiration. This therapy augments cardiac output and lowers intracranial pressure, thereby providing greater circulation to the heart and brain. The eff...

Background Cardiac involvement in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is mainly characterised by diffuse myocardial fibrosis and impairment of the microcirculation; even if clinically silent, it is increasingly recognized to be responsible for higher morbidity and mortality rate. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is the most accurate non-invasive method able to detect myocardial inflammation and fib...

AIM We hypothesized that microcirculatory dysfunction, similar to that seen in sepsis, occurs in post-cardiac arrest patients and that better microcirculatory flow will be associated with improved outcome. We also assessed the association between microcirculatory dysfunction and inflammatory markers in the post-cardiac arrest state. METHODS We prospectively evaluated the sublingual microcircu...

Anemia is accepted among critically ill patients as an alternative to elective blood transfusion. This practice has been extrapolated to head injury patients with only one study comparing the effects of mild anemia on neurological outcome. There are no studies quantifying microcirculation during anemia. Experimental studies suggest that anemia leads to cerebral hypoxia and increased rates of in...

Aging and disease-related changes in the arteriovasculature have been linked to elevated levels of cardiac cycle-induced pulsatility in the cerebral microcirculation. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), acquired fast enough to unalias the cardiac frequency contributions, can be used to study these physiological signals in the brain. Here, we propose an iterative dual regression analys...