Interstitial fluid flow in a compressible arterial intima

摘要

Experimental studies by Tedgui and Lever (1984, 1987) and Baldwin and Wilson (1993) have shown that the filtration coefficient Lp for water flow though the aortic wall of a rabbit is increased by a factor of two when it is denuded of itsendothelium indicating that roughly half of the hydraulic resistance resides within the endothelium. The more intriguing result is that Lp of the intact artery wall with its endothelium is dependent on the transmural pressure, whereas Lp for a denudedvessel is independent of pressure. For the intact vessel Lp decreases by a about a factor of two when the luminal pressure is increased up to roughly 100 mm Hg and then there is little further decrease in Lp with further increases in transmural pressureup to 180 mm Hg. Tedgui and Lever (1987) have further shown that the sucrose space in the media changes little with pressure indicating that the media is relatively incompressible. the latter studies are consistent with the experiments of Chuong and Fung(1984) which indicate that at physiological pressure the consolidation of the artery wall is less than two percent.