Adventitial ablation technique that permits the assessment of adventitial-dependent contribution to microvascular contractile function

Resistance arteries have been implicated as major contributing factor in the sequela of disease conditions such as hypertension and diabetes and as such are a major focus of cardiovascular research. The paracrine influence of the intimal endothelial layer of resistance arteries is well established. Considering the growing body of evidence substantiating a functionally relevant vascular adventitia in this present study we have established a technique which permits determination of the functional influence of the adventitial layer on resistance artery tone. Isolating adventitial-dependent function, analogous to isolating endothelial function, has potentially significant implication for studying the as yet unexplored role of the microvascular adventitial layer in modulating acute vascular contractile function.