Assessment of cutaneous microcirculation by laser Doppler flowmetry in type 1 diabetes

Publication date: Available online 6 April 2019Source: Microvascular ResearchAuthor(s): Michele Sorelli, Piergiorgio Francia, Leonardo Bocchi, Alessandra De Bellis, Roberto AnichiniAbstractBackgroundThe burden of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is growing worldwide, stressing the requirement to limit the threat of its long-term complications. In this regard, the development of methods for the early diagnosis and non-invasive monitoring of vascular abnormalities is widely recognized as one of the greatest priorities of the clinical research in this field.ObjectiveTo assess the deterioration of physiological properties extracted from laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) signals of microvascular perfusion and, secondly, to investigate their association with the quality of long-term metabolic control.MethodsMicrovascular perfusion was recorded at the hallux of 63 control subjects and 47 T1D patients, whose glycaemic control was characterized in terms of the annual average levels of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c). Pulse Decomposition Analysis was applied to the LDF data, in order to derive non-invasive markers of vascular stiffness based on a multi-Gaussian representation of the peripheral pulse waveforms; furthermore, wavelet transform analysis was used to evaluate the microvascular myogenic vasomotion and, finally, a physiological model of the reactive hyperaemia to a local thermal stimulus at 43 was used to test the integrity of the neurovascular pathways.ResultsCompared to the control group,...
Source: Microvascular Research - Category: Biochemistry Source Type: research