Optical method to determine in vivo capillary hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration, and 3-D network geometry in skeletal muscle.

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a tool to visualize and quantify hemodynamic information, such as hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit, within microvascular networks recorded in vivo using intravital video microscopy. Additionally, we aimed to facilitate the 3-D reconstruction of the microvascular networks.

Methods: Digital images taken from an intravital video microscopy preparation of the extensor digitorum longus muscle in rats for 25 capillary segments were used.

Sublethal sensitivity index as an ecotoxicity parameter measuring energy allocation under toxicant stress: application to cadmium in soil arthropods.

Toxic substances may affect the life history of a species in a variety of ways. Different species maintain different priorities in coping with the physiological consequences of toxicant-induced stress. This is expressed by changes in energy allocation to different life-history characteristics which may have great consequences for the response at the population level.