Ischemia

8 important questions on Ischemia

What are watershed zones?

Regions of the body that receives dual blood supply from the most distal branches of two large arteries (weakest blood flow from both directions)

Why do watershed zones influence ischemia

Reduced arterial perfusion can cause intestinal infarction between the arterial fields (e.g. Pelvic flexure in horses)

What is end-artery blood supply?

An artery that is the only supply of oxygenated blood to a portion of tissue
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Why do end artery blood supply influence ischemia

These vessels are the sole source of oxygenated blood for the specific tissue area, lacking the collateral channels found in other parts of the body

Arterial vs venous occlusion in ischemia

Arterial: Immediate infarction and initially pale

Venous: Congestion and edema precede and promote infarction

What are the outcomes of ischemia?

Early stages/mild injury: reversible = return to normal

Sequelae: reperfusion injury and necrosis (infarction)

Sequence of events of ischemia

1. Mitochondrial damage = less ATP, more glycolysis, less proteinsynthesis
- Cell swelling, ER swelling, loss of microvilli

2. Unreparable damage to cell infrastructure = more mitochondrial dysfunction, production of ROS
- Cell membrane damage, organelles

3. Cell-wide systems breakdown = cytocavitary network or cytoskeleton
- Oncotic necrosis, apoptosis, changes in nucleus

Basically
Reversible -> Irreversible -> Cell death

What are the colours and profiles of infarctions

1. Pale and not swollen
- Arterial: acute, no blood entering

2. Dark red +/- swollen
- Arterial: Damaged vessels within infarcted tissue -> blood backflow from surrounding vessels
- Venous: congestion, no blood leaving

3. Pale +/- swollen +/- red rim
- Cell swelling and necrosis force blood out of infarct, it is cleaned up by macrophages
- Red rim = hyperemia/hemorrhage/acute inflammation from adjacent parenchyma

4. Multicolored: RBC breakdown, inflammation, neovascularization

5. White + contracted: chronic = scar

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