Sympathetic control of blood flow to AVAs and capillaries in nasal and facial tissues supplied by the internal maxillary artery in dogs.

Total blood flow and perfusion pressure (PP) of the internal maxillary artery (IMA) were recorded bilaterally during electrical stimulation (8 V, 2ms) of the right cervical sympathetic nerve at frequencies (f) of 0.3, 0.5, 1.0 and 3.0 Hz in anesthetized, paralyzed and artificially ventilated dogs. Distribution of IMA-FLOW to precapillaries (CAP-FLOW) and arteriovenous anastomoses (AVA-FLOW) was determined by the tracer microspheres technique. During electrical stimulation (ES) IMA-FLOW was affected only unilaterally and decreased in a hyperbola-like fashion with the increase of f, while contralateral IMA-FLOW remained unchanged. Systemic blood pressure as well as PP of both IMA remained unchanged while heart rate was only increased during ES at maximal f. The reduction of IMA-FLOW was mainly due to marked vasoconstrictor responses of the AVAs, which were already attained at low f while significant vasoconstrictor responses of precapillaries occurred at higher f and were less pronounced. The early response of AVAs to increasing sympathetic activation enables IMA-FLOW to be adjusted in a physiological range of sympathetic activities, before CAP-FLOW is substantially reduced. The predominance of AVA-FLOW in blood flow control of the IMA was also supported by the conformity in their hyperbolic relationship with maxillary resistance at rest and during enhanced levels of sympathetic vasoconstrictor activity.