Application of laser doppler studies in microcirculation

Skin blood perfusion is an important parameter which changes in disease due to altered physiological conditions. In this review, we have discussed the same along with brief description of the techniques, emphasizing Laser Doppler Velocimeter. The diseases considered here are diabetes, hypertension, cerebrovascular episode and neoplasia /cancer. The effect of smoking has also been examined. In addition to this, age and weight dependence on microcirculation is evaluated

Basal cutaneous blood flow as a function of anatomical sites in smokers and non-smokers

Cutaneous perfusion was measured in smokers and non-smokers at different anatomical sites using Laser Doppler Perfusion Monitor. Ten healthy normal non-smokers and same number of healthy smokers [smoking 8-10 cigarettes a day] were considered. All the subjects were males of age group 22-28 years. The room temperature was maintained between 20-24°C. The skin perfusion was measured using Laser Doppler Perfusion Monitor. Sixty different anatomical sites were selected in each subject. During the study the subjects were lying in supine position. They were asked to relax for 10 minutes before the study. Perfusion was reported in arbitrary perfusion units [PU]. Results were analyzed for inter-site differences within the individual, inter-individual differences within the group viz, smoker and non-smokers and the differences in corresponding sites in smokers and non-smokers. It was observed that the mean perfusion at 40 of the sixty sites was significantly low in smokers. When compared with normal it was found that overall skin perfusion in smokers was about 30-40% less than that in non-smokers. This shows the severe effect of smoking on skin microcirculation