STUDIES ON THE BLOOD VESSELS IN THE MEMBRANES OF CHICK EMBRYOS : PART II. REACTIONS OF THE BLOOD VESSELS IN THE VASCULAR MEMBRANES

A comparison of the effect of stimulation upon the arterial subdivisions shows that these differ in irritability. The capillaries are most irritable, then come the small arterial branches, and last the main stems of arteries, these being the least irritable. The non-innervated blood vessels of the vascular membranes exhibit therefore the behavior described by G. Ricker in the case of those which have a nervous apparatus. We have demonstrated accordingly similar properties in vessels which are not innervated as in those which are. Certain differences exist however. The action of adrenalin on the vessels of the vascular membrane is inconstant and certain other substances are wholly ineffective. Ricker's experiments have advanced knowledge on the regularity of the vascular reactions and have paved the way for these experiments of ours. The result of our experiments with vessels free of nerves suggests that a reexamination may be fruitful of the mechanism which obtains in innervated vessels. There can be no doubt that nerves play a rôle in the behavior of vessels; it appears now to be necessary to define more accurately precisely what this is.