Regulation of peripheral vascular function

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Our long term research goals are to determine how cells of tissues communicate their needs to blood vessels in order to maintain adequate blood flow and ensure proper tissue function. Tissues, skeletal muscle for example, can communicate metabolic needs directly to the vasculature in order to maintain appropriate blood flow over a range of skeletal muscle activities i.e rest and exercise. How this blood flow control is achieved is not well understood. We plan to combine the use of skeletal muscle and microscopy such that the blood vessels can be visualized directly under different levels of skeletal muscle activity. With this model we will be able to identify how skeletal muscle cells signal the cells of the blood vessels to communicate their needs and how cells of the blood vessels intercommunicate with each other to eventually change blood flow to the working muscles.