Both the vocal fold and the tympanic membrane are forced to vibrate on high speed during phonation and sound stimulation. The circulation in these structures was studied in comparison with their vibration.
Three experiments were carried out in the vibrating vocal fold.
1) An arterial or venous vessel graft was inserted into the vocal fold just beneath the mucous membrane in the excised canine larynx. The larynx was blown up after the vocal folds were fixed at the paramedian position. The inserted vessel graft was irrigated with water from its end. The fluid flow was markedly decreased during vibration of the vocal folds.
2) A Gelatin-India-Ink solution was perfused through the laryngeal vessels and the capillary vessels in the mucous membrane were stained. This procedure was done during the vibration of the vocal folds in one case, and was done in the other cases when they were not vibrated. In the former larynx, the mucous membrane was less stained than in the latter.
3) The same experiment as 1) was done, using the vessel graft with a small hole in the wall. When the vocal fold was not vibrated, the fluid flowed through the vessel without leakage; however, when the vibration began, the fluid leaked out in a moment from the small hole and the vocal fold became extremely edematous.
Two experiments were done on the vibrating tympanic membrane.
4) The blood vessels of the tympanic membrane of guinea pigs were stained with Benzidine solution after it was momentarily frozen with liquid nitrogen during sound stimulation. All the vessels were stained in the tympanic membrane frozen under quiet circumstances; however, the vessels were not observed first in the intermediate zone of the tympanic membrane and then in the peripheral zone with increasing sound intensity.
5) The blood volume of the tympanic membrane was measured by counting radioactivity of radioiodinated serum albumin which had been injected prior to sound stimulation. The blood volume of ca. 2000×10
-6ml measured under quiet circumstances decreased less than one tenth during sound stimulation with a pure tone of 500Hz, 70 phon.
These experiments revealed the blood volume of the vocal fold and the tympanic membrane extremely decreases during vibration. It must be useful in the clarification of the pathology of these vibratory organs.
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