Blood pressure fluctuations in human nailfold capillaries

Abstract

Dynamic blood pressure was measured in 33 human finger nailfold capillaries after direct cannulation with glass micropipettes by means of a resistance servo-nulling pressure measuring method. ECG, finger pulsations, and respiratory thorax excursions were monitored simultaneously. All recordings exhibited pulsatile oscillations related to the cardiac rhythm. These oscillations resembled the wave forms of arterial pulsations with steep upstroke and dicrotic notch when the pressure amplitudes were above 10 mmHg. There was no apparent dependence on respiration. In 12 instances, pressure fluctuations with frequencies ranging from 0.2 down to 0.07 Hz were observed in both the arteriolar and venular limb. Blood pressure in human skin capillaries is pulsatile and subject to remarkable fluctuations in the arteriolar as well as in the venular limb, systolic pressure values ranging from 14 to 71 mmHg and from 11 to 52 mmHg, respectively.