Assessment of microvascular response to iontophoresis ofnoradrenaline and phenylephrine using local heating andlaser Doppler flowmetry

• Laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF) is an attractive method to assess blood flow responses butlacks sensitivity to accurately measure low perfusion values during iontophoresis of vasoconstricting drugs without predilatation of the microvascular bed. The aim of this study was to develop a protocol for iontophoresis of noradrenaline (NA) andphenylephrine (Phe) in the skin, using local heating to predilate the microvascular bed andLDF to measure blood flow responses. Three protocols with the same electrical charge (12mC) but different durations and current strengths (100 s x 0.12 mA, 200 s x 0.06 mA, 300 s x0.04 mA) were used to study the effect of pulse duration and current strength on the responses. Skin perfusion decreased to 68-78% of the predilatated state with both NA and Phe. Doseresponse plateaus were not obtained with any protocol. The extent of the vasoconstriction depended on the protocol used. These results suggest that predilatation by local heating appears less suitable duringiontophoresis of NA and Phe, due to limited vascular responses and especially absence of response plateaus, even at high current strengths. The latter leads to difficulties in performing proper dose response analyses. Another interesting finding was that the actual dose of NA and Phe given to the tissue was affected not only by the size of the electrical charge, but local blood flow as well.

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MEDICINE

MEDICIN

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