The relationship between blood flow of mammary tissue and its overlying skin in the mouse.

To determine the relationship between mammary and cutaneous blood flow (BF) the regional distribution of 86RbCl was used to estimate the fractional distribution of the cardiac output to these tissues in virgin, multiparous, pregnant and lactating mice. The results indicate a positive linear correlation between the values obtained for the skin and that obtained for its underlying mammary tissue. This finding may have a practical application, since the skin is more readily accessible for BF measurements than the mammary tissue that it covers.