Reactive hyperaemia in the hind limbs of rabbits. IV. The effect of arterial stenosis.

The influence of arterial stenosis on reactive hyperaemia was measured by electromagnetic flowmetry in the hind limbs of rabbits. When basal blood flow was reduced by 50% by a stenosis, maximal flow and percentual repayment of reactive hyperaemia were reduced significantly. However, the recovery time remained unchanged. Thus, the post-ischaemic vasodilatation passed off in a normal time, but without as large a percentual repayment as seen in controls. Neither did the stenosis induce any prolongation of the time from release of occlusion until maximal flow occurred. The part of repayment obtained during the first minute after release from 5 min occlusion was significantly lower with arterial stenosis than in controls.