OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether differences are present in microvascular response to the schemia induced by dynamic videocapillaroscopy (VCD), through analysis of the measured capillar transverse segment area (CTSA) in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). METHODS: The vascular reactivity of the CTSA was studied by VCD, using a reactive hyperemia test in 61 volunteers, being 31 healthy controls without diabetes family history (Group 1) and 30 patients with T1DM without complications (Group 2). The images were captured every two […]

Associated with elevated risk of cardiovascular events and cancer, obesity is a worldwide problem affecting developed and developing countries. Microcirculatory vessels, represented by arterioles, capillaries and venules (mean internal diameter < 100 µm), are the place where blood/tissue nutrition and exchange effectively take place. Microvascular dysfunction is an early event in obesity probably secondary to endothelial dysfunction and capillaries rarefaction. New research techniques allow the investigation of the microcirculation in different vascular beds in humans. Studies suggest a link between […]

The retinal vasculature is a unique site where the microcirculation can be noninvasively imaged in vivo. This presents an opportunity to study otherwise inaccessible structural features of the microcirculation. Recently, a number of population-based studies have developed quantitative methods of measuring these retinal signs, and investigated how these signs relate to metabolic disorders such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. These studies have reported fairly consistent associations of retinopathy lesions, arteriolar narrowing and venular dilation with these metabolic disorders, […]

The main methods to explore skin microcirculation of diabetic patients and some recent knowledge about physiopathology of diabetic microangiopathy are discussed by the authors based on medical literature and on their experience using videocapillaroscopy. Basal hands nailfold videocapillaroscopy shows high prevalence of edema, microaneurisms and capillar efferent segment tortuosity and dilatation as among diabetic individuals as in first-degree relatives even with normal glucose tolerance tests. Dynamic responses to ischemia and other stimulus suggest precocious inadequate vasodilatatory responses, through flow velocity […]