Using a cold skin probe to measure blood vessel health

Investigating the vascular response to a cold probe: a study of mechanisms in cardiovascular health and disease (Mr Brentton Barrett)

London researchers are using a cold probe against the skin to study the health and responsiveness of blood vessels. Healthy blood vessels are flexible and can respond quickly to changes inside and outside our body; becoming narrower or wider accordingly. Diseases such as diabetes severely damage the health of blood vessels, which become less able to respond. Poor blood vessel health could indicate that a person is at high risk of heart disease. Tests that measure the health of our vessels are an essential tool for doctors. This team have developed a cold probe technique, which cools a small area of the skin to less than 10 degrees Celsius. This is enough to stimulate a ‘cold response’ in healthy blood vessels in the skin. The blood vessels constrict to reduce blood flow and retain heat. When the cold passes, the vessels dilate once more. In this project the team will use this cold probe technique on a paw of anaesthetised mice, and will pinpoint the molecular steps that take place to make this cold response happen. They will then see if this differs in mice with diabetes. This will reveal if the cold probe test could be a useful and painless way to reveal early stages of heart and circulatory disease in patients.