摘要
BACKGROUND The sympathetic nervous system makes medium and large peripheral arteries smaller to slow the blood flowing through them.AIM To observe brachial artery sympathetic innervation.METHODS We developed a neurophysiological autonomous test that measured the effects of peripheral sympathetic fibres on peripheral arteries.Our specific objective was to find the sympathetic innervation of the brachial artery.To accomplish this purpose,the brachial artery baseline diameter and flow rate were measured in the right arm of the patients.Afterwards,electrical stimulus was applied to the medial nerve for 5 s.Through electrical sympathetic activation,the vessel diameter and overall flow rate will decrease.After 7 d,a similar experiment was repeated using the ulnar nerve.RESULTS The differences in diameter and flow rate of the brachial artery in response to median and ulnar nerve activation were compared.In the total group,no significant difference in diameter was seen between medial and ulnar nerve stimulation(P=0.648).The difference in absolute slowdown of flow rate between median nerve stimulation and ulnar nerve stimulation was not statistically significant for the entire group(P=0.733).CONCLUSION As a target organ,the brachial artery receives an equal amount of sympathetic innervation from the median and the ulnar nerves.
