Aims: To identify the geometrical alterations in the age-remodeled rat coronary artery network and to develop a useful technique to analyze network properties in the rat heart.
Methods and results: We analyzed the networks of the left anterior descendent coronary arteries on in situ perfused hearts of young (3 months) and old (18 months) male rats. All segments and branching over >80 μm diameter were analyzed using 50 μm long cylindrical ring units of the networks. Arterial widening and paucity, increased tortuosity were typical features in the old network. In addition, axis angles deviated more from the mother branches in the old, whereas the diameters of daughter branches fit the Murray law in both groups. The detected changes in the old network resulted in a longer blood flow route for the same direct distance.
Conclusion: We developed a useful method to investigate arterial network property changes in the rat heart. Ageing resulted in longer, more tortuous flow route in the LAD network that might be hemodynamically disadvantageous.
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