University of Copenhagen

jens_christian_jacobsen

Jens Christian Brings Jacobsen, MD, Ph.D
Associate Professor

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences University of Copenhagen

Department of Biomedical Sciences

Interests
Microcirculation / Network properties / Tissue perfusion / Endothelial function / Vascular adaptation / hypertension / vasomotion / Vascular conducted responses

Techniques
Computer simulations / in vivo measurements

Project: ESR 1.3 Modeling retinal arteriolar vasomotion.

Background: Vasomotion is a rhythmic oscillation in vessel diameter, which is known to correlate with disease states such as hypertension and diabetes. Little is known however, of vasomotion in the human body in vascular beds that are undisturbed by the experimental situation, and the retina provides a rare opportunity to observe and elucidate dynamic aspects of vasomotion: e.g. its physiological role and possible dependence of information transfer along the vascular wall (vascular conducted responses) and its possible relation to the development of microcirculatory disturbances as observed in hypertension and diabetes.

This project will: 1) develop methods to quantify (including a possible spread along the vessel wall) arteriolar and venular vasomotion in both central and more peripheral parts of the retinal bed using long-term recordings of the retina; 2) perform dynamic flow simulations on virtual retinal networks to investigate the role of vasomotion for flow and pressure at the capillary level and, 3) correlate the observed vasomotion characteristics (e.g. incidence, frequency, amplitude and distribution among vessels of different size) with the state of a given disease in order to develop new diagnostic and prognostic measures.

Direct collaborators: University Hospital of Aarhus, Denmark, Department of Ophthalmology (providing in vivo retinal recordings).

Major 5 Publications

1) Jens Christian Brings Jacobsen, Morten Hornbech and Niels-Henrik Holstein-Rathlou. Significance of microvascular remodeling for the vascular flow reserve in hypertension. Interface Focus 2010 (1);117-131.

2) Jens Christian Brings Jacobsen, Christian Aalkjær, Vladimir V. Matchkov, Holger Nilsson, Jacob J. Freiberg and Niels-Henrik Holstein-Rathlou. Heterogeneity and weak coupling may explain the synchronization characteristics of cells in the arterial wall. Philos Transact A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2008 Oct 13;366(1880):3483-502.

3) Jens Christian Brings Jacobsen, Michael John Mulvany and Niels-Henrik Holstein-Rathlou. A mechanism for arteriolar remodeling based on maintenance of smooth muscle cell activation. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 294: R1379–R1389, 2008.

4) Jens Christian Brings Jacobsen, Christian Aalkjær, Holger Nilsson, Vladimir V.
Matchkov, Jacob Freiberg and Niels-Henrik Holstein-Rathlou
Activation of a cGMP-sensitive calcium-dependent chloride channel may cause transition from calcium waves to whole cell oscillations in smooth muscle cells.
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2007 Jul;293(1):H215-H228

5) Jens Christian Brings Jacobsen, Christian Aalkjær, Holger Nilsson, Vladimir V.
Matchkov, Jacob Freiberg and Niels-Henrik Holstein-Rathlou
A model of smooth muscle cell synchronization in the arterial wall. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2007 Jul;293(1):H229-H237.

 

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