STUDIES ON THE COURSE OF VASOMOTOR FIBERS AS MEASURED BY THERMIC CHANGES IN THE FEET AFTER ARTERIAL LIGATION AND SECTION OF THE SPINAL CORD AT VARIOUS LEVELS

Abstract

The temp. changes in the hind feet of dogs studied following ligation of the arteries and transection of the spinal cord at various levels, were dependent on both the level of transection of the cord (number of vasomotor fibers interrupted) and the level of ligation of the artery as well as on other factors. If the femoral artery was ligated below the profunda branch, transection of the spinal cord as low as the level of the 6th lumbar vertebra might cause an immediate full vasodilatation. The expts. suggest that if the method of measuring vasodilatation is capable of recording the changes resulting from division of a small number of fibers, vasomotor fibers are found to leave the spinal cord at lower levels than have previously been described.