Capillary spatial pattern and muscle fiber geometry in three hamster striated muscles.

Since most oxygen exchange in muscle is thought to occur by diffusion across the walls of capillaries, it is important to determine the spatial relationship between capillaries and muscle fibers. We have extended the work of Kayar et al. (Microvasc. Res 24: 326-341, 1982) to include other statistical tests that allow one to make stronger statements regarding the spatial pattern. Data for hamsters were obtained from two sartorius, three retractor, and five soleus muscle sections. Distances between all pairs of capillaries, distances between a capillary and its first nearest neighbor for all capillaries, and distances between random tissue sample points and the closest capillary were used to test the spatial arrangement of capillaries. The null hypothesis tested of complete spatial randomness of capillary locations was rejected in favor of a regular alternative in one each of the sartorius and retractor fields and in all five soleus fields. We formulated a geometric model, composed of a space-filling array of identical hexagonal muscle fibers with capillaries placed randomly at the juncture of three fibers or between two fibers, according to the observed relative probability of those occurrences. The model simulations of muscle fibers and capillaries were then analyzed by the same statistical tests used on the histological sections. The findings were similar in both cases, providing confidence that the assumptions of the model were sufficient approximations. The results of this study provide a basis for the placement of capillaries around muscle fibers in mathematical models of oxygen transport in capillary networks.