Perfusion of the human finger during cold-induced vasodilatation

The effect of severe local cooling of the finger on the vasomotor activity of the arteriovenous anastomoses (AVAs) and other finger vessels was examined. Before cooling, blood velocity in both fingers showed the familiar large, closely correlated fluctuations caused by synchronous opening and closing of the AVAs. Results showed that these velocity fluctuations continued to be positively correlated with arterial blood velocity fluctuations in the control finger during cold-induced vasodilation.