Interactions of Ionic Mechanisms in the Regulation of the Resistance of Pial Vessels

The effect of local changes in potassium and bicarbonate concentration on hypothalamic blood flow in the rabbit.

“…The lack of any significant increase in HBF with injection of 40 mM-[K+] solution in our experiments, and the direct evidence of pial arteriole constriction in the presence of a high perivascular [K+] (Betz et al 1975) would support the view that blood vessels in the brain respond similarly to those in skeletal muscle in response to local changes in [K+]; that is, by vasodilatation up to a certain perivascular [K+], and by vasoconstriction on further increase in [K+].…”