INFLAMMATION-RELATED MORPHOLOGICAL ALTERATIONS IN THE MICROVASCULATURE

Microvasculature is a complex structural and functional system that regulates blood supply of body organs, provides transcapillary exchange of fluid and supports the tissue homeostasis. The human microvasculature is represented by the system of small vessels: arterioles, capillaries, venules and arteriolovenular anastomoses. The vessels of this complex become flexible in the altered blood flow; they can deposit the blood corpuscles, get affected by spasms and pass plasma only, change their permeability for tissue fluid. Microvasculature is extremely sensitive to the insults of various factors. Microvascular dysfunction coexists or precedes the macrovascular diseases probably due to joint mechanisms of damage to vessels such as oxidative stress and inflammation. Disorders of microcirculation are one of the main components of inflammation. This article is aimed at the analysis of the scientific publications on the study of morphological alterations in the microvasculature in response to inflammation. The bibliosemantic method was used. The findings of current publications on the morphological alterations that occur in the microcirculation in response to inflammation have been investigated. The analysis has shown significant morphological alterations in the microvessels in response to the proinflammatory factors. Inflammatory processes are accompanied by the events of microvascular dysfunction, associated with hyperpermeability of capillaries, destruction of microvascular endothelial barrier, loss of antiadhesive function of endothelium, etc. In response to inflammation, the marked morphofunctional alterations in the microvasculature of the various organs are observed that are dependent on the time course of inflammation. Early onset is manifested mainly by the spasm of the vascular resistance and dilatation of the capacitance vessels. Disorders of blood rheological properties are manifested by stasis, sludge, microthrombosis.