The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of ambulatory reloading following hindlimb unloading on the three-dimensional (3D) capillary architecture of rat soleus muscle. In this study, 15 male Sprague–Dawley rats were used. The rats were randomly assigned to the following 3 groups: a normal weight bearing control group (CON), 14 days of hindlimb unloading group (HU), and 14 days of hindlimb unloading followed by 7 days of ambulatory reloading group (HU-RL). The capillary diameter and volume were measured using confocal laser microscopy, and capillary number was determined by two-dimensional (2D) capillary staining in the soleus muscle of each group. The capillary diameter and volume as well as the capillary number were significantly lower in the HU group than in the CON group and significantly higher in the HU-RL group than in the HU group. These results provided novel information about the effectiveness of reloading following unloading on not only the 2D increase in capillary number but also the 3D capillary remodeling in the diameter and volume within the unloaded soleus muscle.

该研究的目的是研究后肢卸载后动态重新加载对大鼠比目鱼肌的三维 (3D) 毛细血管结构的影响。在这项研究中，使用了 15 只雄性 Sprague-Dawley 大鼠。将大鼠随机分为以下3组：正常负重对照组（CON）、后肢卸荷14天组（HU）、后肢卸荷14天后7天动态再加载组（HU-RL） . 使用共聚焦激光显微镜测量毛细血管直径和体积，并通过每组比目鱼肌中的二维 (2D) 毛细血管染色确定毛细血管数量。HU组的毛细血管直径和体积以及毛细血管数量显着低于CON组，HU-RL组显着高于HU组。这些结果提供了关于卸载后重新加载的有效性的新信息，不仅对毛细血管数量的 2D 增加，而且对卸载的比目鱼肌内的直径和体积进行 3D 毛细血管重塑。