[Blood flow in skeletal muscle microvessels in normoxia and arterial hypoxemia (microcinematographic studies)].

Vital microfilming revealed peculiarities of blood flow in microvessels of 2-5-micron diameter under relatively resting conditions, in normoxia, as well as the microcirculatory response to hypoxia (breathing with mixture of nitrogen and 6-8% oxygen for 5 min), in intact temporal muscle of rat. The average blood flow velocity in normoxia was 1.14 +/- 0.04 mm/sec in capillaries and 2.43 +/- 0.08 mm/sec in terminal arterioles. Breathing with the hypoxic mixture decelerated blood flow in 75% of the vessels. The blood low velocity in the muscle capillaries correlated with arterial blood pressure.