Geometric accommodation between the dimensions of erythrocytes and the calibre of heart and muscle capillaries in the rat.

The finer and more closely arrayed the capillaries are, the more efficiently oxygen will be transported to tissue because the same blood volume has greater contact area with the tissue and the diffusion distance for the oxygen is minimized. If these principles are actually governing microvascular structure, then the finest capillaries will be the narrowest channels which circulating erythrocytes can transit. Ascertaining the existence of this geometric limit requires quantitative data of demonstrated reliability on erythrocyte geometry and on capillary diameters. The study was done on Wistar rats. Constant flow perfusion of skeletal and cardiac muscle by a modified Batson's compound for anatomical casting made available rigid three-dimensional replicas of the microvasculature which shrank less than 1% when the tissue was digested with potassium hydroxide. Measurements of individual capillaries were made on high contrast scanning electron micrographs of the casts. Measurements on individual rat erythrocytes were done on photomicrographs of cells on edge. Reliability of these data was tested in three ways. First, repeatability of the tracing of the cell outline was tested by processing a duplicate set of photomicrographs. Secondly, correlations of the various parameters were found. Thirdly, results from other techniques of measuring erythrocytes were examined for areas of agreement and also for causes of possible error for areas in dispute. Because of known variability in erythrocyte sizes and shapes between species and between individuals within a species, we compared the data on erythrocyte geometry and capillary diameters for samples taken from the same individual rat. The data revealed a very positive indication that the lowest range of capillary diameters were at the limits of deformation of the circulating erythrocytes. Ninety-five per cent of the erythrocytes sampled could pass through a channel 2.9 micron in diameter. A small number of the capillaries measured were narrower than this limit. The data on erythrocytes and capillaries were compared for six rats. The limiting diameter for passage of erythrocytes was remarkably uniform for all six animals.