The cardiovascular system oscillates around several frequencies that are specific for a given domain or territory. From membrane potential oscillations generating action potentials in the myocardium to the blood pressure and the heart rate variability, different mechanisms create rhythmic patterns whose significance is presently extensively investigated.

This study describes the vasomotion in the radial artery of healthy volunteers. The combined long tern measurements of blood pressure and internal diameter by an A-mode ultrasonic echo-tracking device allow us to assess the mechanical properties of the vascular wall. Under resting conditions, the radial artery diameter of the volunteers oscillated with an amplitude 3 to 4 times greater than the pulsatile diameter changes and with a period ranging from 40 to 70 seconds. Decomposition of the heart rate, blood pressure and diameter variability by power spectral analysis techniques showed a very low frequency (VLF) mode ≤ 0.02 Hz for diameter signals that could not be identified for the other two signals in the time domain studied (13 min). The vasomotion of the radial artery induces a significant modification of the mechanical properties of the vessel wall as assessed by cross-sectional compliance- or distensibility-pressure curves.

Although the spectral analysis does not support the influence of a centrally mediated mechanism of vasomotion in the muscular artery of the forearm, further studies will be necessary to verify this hypothesis.