Muscle contraction-induced steal model in the anesthetized cat

The current study describes a model in the anesthetized cat which may be used to investigate pharmacological interventions for the treatment of vascular “steal” during muscle contraction. An artificial stenosis was placed around both the descending abdominal aorta and the left external iliac artery. Arterial blood flow was measured in the right and left external iliac and right femoral arteries. Contraction of the left hindquarters, induced by electrical stimulation of the left sciatic and femoral nerves, resulted in an increase of left iliac artery blood flow from 14.7 ± 2.0 to 30.5 ± 2.8 ml min −1 (p