Increase in myocardial collateral blood flow during repeated brief episodes of ischemia in the awake dog.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether coronary collateral blood flow changes in response to repeated brief periods of ischemia in dogs in which no attempt has been made to stimulate collateral vessel development. The dogs were instrumented with aortic and left atrial catheters and a balloon occluder on the left circumflex coronary artery and were studied in the awake state the following day. Blood flow to the collateral dependent myocardium was measured using 9 mu radioactive microspheres during four coronary occlusions of two minutes duration, each separated by one hour of reperfusion. A small but statistically significant increase in mean collateral blood flow was noted between the first and fourth occlusions; .03 to .05 ml/min/g. These data suggest that transient periods of brief ischemia may result in increases in collateral blood flow.