Chapter 19
Complexity-Based Analysis
of Microvascular Blood Flow in Human
Skin
Marjola Thanaj, Andrew J. Chipperfield, and Geraldine F. Clough
Abstract The maintenance of an adequate microvascular perfusion sufficient to
meet the metabolic demands of the tissue is dependent on neural, humoral and local
vaso-mechanisms that determine vascular tone and blood flow patterns within a
microvascular network. It has been argued that attenuation of these flow patterns
may be a major contributor to disease risk. Thus, quantitative information on the
in vivo spatio-temporal behaviour of microvascular perfusion is important if we are
to understand network functionality and flexibility in cardiovascular disease. Time
and frequency-domain analysis has been extensively used to describe the dynamic
characteristics of Laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) signals obtained from superficial
microvascular networks such as that of the skin. However, neither approach has
provided definitive and consistent information on the relative contribution of the
oscillatory components of flowmotion (endothelial, neurogenic, myogenic, respiratory and cardiac) to a sustained and adequate microvascular perfusion; nor advance
our understanding of how such processes are collectively modified in disease. More
recently, non-linear complexity-based approaches have begun to yield evidence of a
declining adaptability of microvascular flow patterns as disease severity increases.
In this chapter we review the utility and application of these approaches for the
quantitative, mechanistic exploration of microvascular (dys)function.
M. Thanaj · A. J. Chipperfield
Bioengineering Science Group, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of
Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
e-mail: M.Thanaj@soton.ac.uk
A. J. Chipperfield
e-mail: a.j.chipperfield@soton.ac.uk
G. F. Clough (B)
Human Development & Health, Faculty of Medicine, Southampton General Hospital, University
of Southampton, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK
e-mail: g.f.clough@soton.ac.uk
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Stefanovska and P. V. E. McClintock (eds.), Physics of Biological
Oscillators, Understanding Complex Systems,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59805-1_19
291
Complexity-Based Analysis
of Microvascular Blood Flow in Human
Skin
Marjola Thanaj, Andrew J. Chipperfield, and Geraldine F. Clough
Abstract The maintenance of an adequate microvascular perfusion sufficient to
meet the metabolic demands of the tissue is dependent on neural, humoral and local
vaso-mechanisms that determine vascular tone and blood flow patterns within a
microvascular network. It has been argued that attenuation of these flow patterns
may be a major contributor to disease risk. Thus, quantitative information on the
in vivo spatio-temporal behaviour of microvascular perfusion is important if we are
to understand network functionality and flexibility in cardiovascular disease. Time
and frequency-domain analysis has been extensively used to describe the dynamic
characteristics of Laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) signals obtained from superficial
microvascular networks such as that of the skin. However, neither approach has
provided definitive and consistent information on the relative contribution of the
oscillatory components of flowmotion (endothelial, neurogenic, myogenic, respiratory and cardiac) to a sustained and adequate microvascular perfusion; nor advance
our understanding of how such processes are collectively modified in disease. More
recently, non-linear complexity-based approaches have begun to yield evidence of a
declining adaptability of microvascular flow patterns as disease severity increases.
In this chapter we review the utility and application of these approaches for the
quantitative, mechanistic exploration of microvascular (dys)function.
M. Thanaj · A. J. Chipperfield
Bioengineering Science Group, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of
Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
e-mail: M.Thanaj@soton.ac.uk
A. J. Chipperfield
e-mail: a.j.chipperfield@soton.ac.uk
G. F. Clough (B)
Human Development & Health, Faculty of Medicine, Southampton General Hospital, University
of Southampton, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK
e-mail: g.f.clough@soton.ac.uk
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Stefanovska and P. V. E. McClintock (eds.), Physics of Biological
Oscillators, Understanding Complex Systems,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59805-1_19
291