Morphologic Mapping of the Sublingual Microcirculation in Healthy Volunteers

Purpose: Monitoring the sublingual and oral microcirculation (SM-OM) using hand-held vital microscopes (HVMs) has provided valuable insight into the (patho) physiology of diseases. However, the microvascular anatomy in a healthy population has not been adequately described yet. Methods: Incident dark field-based HVM imaging was used to visualize the SM-OM. First, the SM was divided into four different fields; Field-a (between incisors-lingua), Field-b (between the canine-first premolar-lingua), Field-c (between the first-second premolar-lingua), Field-d (between the second molar-wisdom teeth-lingua). Second, we investigated the buccal area, lower and upper lip. Total/functional vessel density (TVD/FCD), focus depth (FD), small vessel mean diameters (SVMDs), and capillary tortuosity score (CTS) were compared between the areas. Results: Fifteen volunteers with a mean age of 29 ± 6 years were enrolled. No statistical difference was found between the sublingual fields in terms of TVD (p = 0.30), FCD (p = 0.38), and FD (p = 0.09). SVMD was similar in Field-a, Field-b, and Field-c (p = 0.20–0.30), and larger in Field-d (p < 0.01, p = 0.015). The CTS of the buccal area was higher than in the lips. Conclusion: The sublingual area has a homogenous distribution in TVD, FCD, FD, and SVMD. This study can be a description of the normal microvascular anatomy for future researches regarding microcirculatory assessment.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Morphologic Mapping of the Sublingual Microcirculation in Healthy Volunteers ; volume:59 ; number:4 ; year:2022 ; pages:199-208 ; extent:10 ; Journal of vascular research ; 59, Heft 4 (2022), 199-208 (gesamt 10)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Güven, Göksel ; Uz, Zühre ; Hilty, Matthias Peter ; Bilecenoğlu, Burak ; Akin, Șakir ; Ince, Yasin ; Ince, Can

Further information

• DOI: 10.1159/000522394
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2022072800310752065844
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:37 AM CEST