Krogh’s capillary recruitment hypothesis, 100 years on: Is the opening of previously closed capillaries necessary to ensure muscle oxygenation during exercise?

Retinal vessel density and cognitive function in healthy older adults

The eye is considered a gateway to the brain, as the retina is the only tissue of the central nervous system not protected by bones. This enables non-invasive imaging to provide exceptional insights into the brain. Based on the similarity of brain and retinal structure, it is being investigated whether changes in retinal blood flow could serve as a potential biomarker for cognitive decline. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) enables an examination of the microcirculation of the retina on the basis of retinal flow registration. Retinal blood flow has been associated with cognitive function and changes have been shown for Alzheimer's patients, whereas data for healthy older subjects are contradictory. The aim of this study was to correlate OCTA parameters with the individual performance in tests assessing the executive functions (EFs) inhibition, updating and shifting in a group of healthy older adults (range: 65-79) using structural equation modeling, with hematocrit serving as a mediator. A model was obtained for vessel density (VD) of the retinal superficial vascular complex and the EF parameters inhibition and updating. The model revealed that only the mediator hematocrit correlated with EF, whereas neither the direct path VD to EF nor the indirect path VD via hematocrit to EF were significantly correlated. Regression analysis with hematocrit yielded significant results for the variable updating. We conclude that higher levels of hematocrit shorten reaction time and the coefficient of variation increases correspondingly, indicating a positive effect of hematocrit on EF.

Perspectives on the History of Coronary Physiology: Discovery of Major Principles and Their Clinical Correlates

Coronary circulation plays an essential role in delivering oxygen and metabolic substrates to satisfy the considerable energy demand of the heart. This article reviews the history that led to the current understanding of coronary physiology, beginning with William Harvey's revolutionary discovery of systemic blood circulation in the 17th century, and extending through the 20th century when the major mechanisms regulating coronary blood flow (CBF) were elucidated: extravascular compressive forces, metabolic control, pressure-flow autoregulation, and neural pathways. Pivotal research studies providing evidence for each of these mechanisms are described, along with their clinical correlates. The authors describe the major role played by researchers in the 19th century, who formulated basic principles of hemodynamics, such as Poiseuille's law, which provided the conceptual foundation for experimental studies of CBF regulation. Targeted research studies in coronary physiology began in earnest around the turn of the 20th century. Despite reliance on crude experimental techniques, the pioneers in coronary physiology made groundbreaking discoveries upon which our current knowledge is predicated. Further advances in coronary physiology were facilitated by technological developments, including methods to measure phasic CBF and its regional distribution, and by biochemical discoveries, including endothelial vasoactive molecules and adrenergic receptor subtypes. The authors recognize the invaluable contribution made by basic scientists toward the understanding of CBF regulation, and the enormous impact that this fundamental information has had on improving clinical diagnosis, decision-making, and patient care.

The conducted vascular response as a mediator of hypercapnic cerebrovascular reactivity: A modelling study

It is well established that the cerebral blood flow (CBF) shows exquisite sensitivity to changes in the arterial blood partial pressure of CO2 ( [Formula: see text] ), which is reflected by an index termed cerebrovascular reactivity. In response to elevations in [Formula: see text] (hypercapnia), the vessels of the cerebral microvasculature dilate, thereby decreasing the vascular resistance and increasing CBF. Due to the challenges of access, scale and complexity encountered when studying the microvasculature, however, the mechanisms behind cerebrovascular reactivity are not fully understood. Experiments have previously established that the cholinergic release of the Acetylcholine (ACh) neurotransmitter in the cortex is a prerequisite for the hypercapnic response. It is also known that ACh functions as an endothelial-dependent agonist, in which the local administration of ACh elicits local hyperpolarization in the vascular wall; this hyperpolarization signal is then propagated upstream the vascular network through the endothelial layer and is coupled to a vasodilatory response in the vascular smooth muscle (VSM) layer in what is known as the conducted vascular response (CVR). Finally, experimental data indicate that the hypercapnic response is more strongly correlated with the CO2 levels in the tissue than in the arterioles. Accordingly, we hypothesize that the CVR, evoked by increases in local tissue CO2 levels and a subsequent local release of ACh, is responsible for the CBF increase observed in response to elevations in [Formula: see text] . By constructing physiologically grounded dynamic models of CBF and control in the cerebral vasculature, ones that integrate the available knowledge and experimental data, we build a new model of the series of signalling events and pathways underpinning the hypercapnic response, and use the model to provide compelling evidence that corroborates the aforementioned hypothesis. If the CVR indeed acts as a mediator of the hypercapnic response, the proposed mechanism would provide an important addition to our understanding of the repertoire of metabolic feedback mechanisms possessed by the brain and would motivate further in-vivo investigation. We also model the interaction of the hypercapnic response with dynamic cerebral autoregulation (dCA), the collection of mechanisms that the brain possesses to maintain near constant CBF despite perturbations in pressure, and show how the dCA mechanisms, which otherwise tend to be overlooked when analysing experimental results of cerebrovascular reactivity, could play a significant role in shaping the CBF response to elevations in [Formula: see text] . Such in-silico models can be used in tandem with in-vivo experiments to expand our understanding of cerebrovascular diseases, which continue to be among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in humans.

Overdot and overline annotation must be understood to accurately interpret V.O2MAX physiology with the Fick formula

Few formulas have been used in exercise physiology as extensively as the Fick formula, which calculates the rate of oxygen consumption (i.e., V.O2) as the product of cardiac output (Q.) and the difference in oxygen content in arterial and mixed venous blood (Δav ¯ O2). Unfortunately, the physiology of maximum V.O2 (V.O2MAX) is often misinterpreted due to a lack of appreciation for the limitations represented by the oft-ignored superscript annotations in the Fick formula. The purpose of this perspective is to explain the meaning of the superscript annotations and highlight how such annotations influence proper interpretation of V.O2MAX physiology with the Fick formula. First, we explain the significance of the overdots above V.O2 and Q., which indicate a measure per unit of time. As we will show, the presence of an overdot above Q. and lack of one above Δav ¯ O2 denotes they are different types of ratios and should be interpreted in the context of one another-not in contrast to each other as is commonplace. Second, we discuss the significance of the overline above the "v ¯ " in Δav ¯ O2, which indicates the venous sample is an average of blood that comes from mixed sources. The mixed nature of the venous sample has major implications for interpreting the influence of oxygen diffusion and blood flow heterogeneity on V.O2MAX. Ultimately, we give recommendations and insights for using the Fick formula to calculate V.O2 and interpret V.O2MAX physiology.

The Oxygen Cascade from Atmosphere to Mitochondria as a Tool to Understand the (Mal)adaptation to Hypoxia

Hypoxia is a life-threatening challenge for about 1% of the world population, as well as a contributor to high morbidity and mortality scores in patients affected by various cardiopulmonary, hematological, and circulatory diseases. However, the adaptation to hypoxia represents a failure for a relevant portion of the cases as the pathways of potential adaptation often conflict with well-being and generate diseases that in certain areas of the world still afflict up to one-third of the populations living at altitude. To help understand the mechanisms of adaptation and maladaptation, this review examines the various steps of the oxygen cascade from the atmosphere to the mitochondria distinguishing the patterns related to physiological (i.e., due to altitude) and pathological (i.e., due to a pre-existing disease) hypoxia. The aim is to assess the ability of humans to adapt to hypoxia in a multidisciplinary approach that correlates the function of genes, molecules, and cells with the physiologic and pathological outcomes. We conclude that, in most cases, it is not hypoxia by itself that generates diseases, but rather the attempts to adapt to the hypoxia condition. This underlies the paradigm shift that when adaptation to hypoxia becomes excessive, it translates into maladaptation.

Proceedings from the Albert Charitable Trust Inaugural Workshop on 'Understanding the Acute Effects of Exercise on the Brain'

An inaugural workshop supported by "The Leo and Anne Albert Charitable Trust," was held October 4-7, 2019 in Scottsdale, Arizona, to focus on the effects of exercise on the brain and to discuss how physical activity may prevent or delay the onset of aging-related neurodegenerative conditions. The Scientific Program Committee (led by Dr. Jeff Burns) assembled translational, clinical, and basic scientists who research various aspects of the effects of exercise on the body and brain, with the overall goal of gaining a better understanding as to how to delay or prevent neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, research topics included the links between cardiorespiratory fitness, the cerebrovasculature, energy metabolism, peripheral organs, and cognitive function, which are all highly relevant to understanding the effects of acute and chronic exercise on the brain. The Albert Trust workshop participants addressed these and related topics, as well as how other lifestyle interventions, such as diet, affect age-related cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. This report provides a synopsis of the presentations and discussions by the participants, and a delineation of the next steps towards advancing our understanding of the effects of exercise on the aging brain.

Capillary communication: the role of capillaries in sensing the tissue environment, coordinating the microvascular, and controlling blood flow

Historically, capillaries have been viewed as the microvascular site for flux of nutrients to cells and removal of waste products. Capillaries are the most numerous blood vessel segment within the tissue, whose vascular wall consists of only a single layer of endothelial cells and are situated within microns of each cell of the tissue, all of which optimizes capillaries for the exchange of nutrients between the blood compartment and the interstitial space of tissues. There is, however, a growing body of evidence to support that capillaries play an important role in sensing the tissue environment, coordinating microvascular network responses, and controlling blood flow. Much of our growing understanding of capillaries stems from work in skeletal muscle and more recent work in the brain, where capillaries can be stimulated by products released from cells of the tissue during increased activity and are able to communicate with upstream and downstream vascular segments, enabling capillaries to sense the activity levels of the tissue and send signals to the microvascular network to coordinate the blood flow response. This review will focus on the emerging role that capillaries play in communication between cells of the tissue and the vascular network required to direct blood flow to active cells in skeletal muscle and the brain. We will also highlight the emerging central role that disruptions in capillary communication may play in blood flow dysregulation, pathophysiology, and disease.

The coronary capillary bed and its role in blood flow and oxygen delivery: A review

The assumption that the coronary capillary blood flow is exclusively regulated by precapillary vessels is not supported by recent data. Rather, the complex coronary capillary bed has unique structural and geometric characteristics that invalidate many assumptions regarding red blood cell (RBC) transport, for example, data based on a single capillary or that increases in flow are the result of capillary recruitment. It is now recognized that all coronary capillaries are open and that their variations in flow are due to structural differences, local O₂ demand and delivery, and variations in hematocrit. Recent data reveal that local mechanisms within the capillary bed regulate flow via signaling mechanisms involving RBC signaling and endothelial-associated pericytes that contract and relax in response to humoral and neural signaling. The discovery that pericytes respond to vasoactive signals (e.g., nitric oxide, phenylephrine, and adenosine) underscores the role of these cells in regulating capillary diameter and consequently RBC flux and oxygen delivery. RBCs also affect blood flow by sensing <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msub><mml:mi>P</mml:mi> <mml:msub><mml:mi>O</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub> </mml:msub> </mml:math> and releasing nitric oxide to facilitate relaxation of pericytes and a consequential capillary dilation. New data indicate that these signaling mechanisms allow control of blood flow in specific coronary capillaries according to their oxygen requirements. In conclusion, mechanisms in the coronary capillary bed facilitate RBC density and transit time, hematocrit, blood flow and O₂ delivery, factors that decrease capillary heterogeneity. These findings have important clinical implications for myocardial ischemia and infarction, as well as other vascular diseases.

Modeling the measurement bias in interstitial glucose concentrations derived from microdialysis in skeletal muscle

Muscle tissue utilizes glucose as a fuel during exercise and stores glucose in form of glycogen during rest. The associated glucose transport includes delivery of glucose from blood plasma into the interstitial space and subsequent, GLUT-4 facilitated diffusion into muscle cells. The extent to which the vascular endothelium acts as a barrier to glucose transport, however, remains debated. While accurate measurements of interstitial glucose concentration (IGC) are key to resolve this debate, these are also challenging as removal of interstitial fluid may perturb glucose transport and therefore bias IGC measurements. We developed a three-compartment model to infer IGC in skeletal muscle from its local metabolism and blood flow. The model predicts that IGC remains within 5% of that of blood plasma during resting conditions but decreases more as metabolism increases. Next, we determined how microdialysis protocols affect IGC. Our model analysis suggests that microdialysis-based IGC measurements underestimate true values. Notably, reported increases in muscle capillary permeability surface area product (PS) to glucose under the condition of elevated metabolism may owe in part to such measurements bias. Our study demonstrates that microdialysis may be associated with significant measurement bias in the context of muscle IGC assessment. Reappraising literature data with this bias in mind, we find that muscle capillary endothelium may represent less of a barrier to glucose transport in muscle than previously believed. We discuss the impact of glucose removal on the microdialysis relative recovery and means of correcting microdialysis IGC values.

Oxygen flux from capillary to mitochondria: integration of contemporary discoveries

Resting humans transport ~ 100 quintillion (10¹⁸) oxygen (O₂) molecules every second to tissues for consumption. The final, short distance (< 50 µm) from capillary to the most distant mitochondria, in skeletal muscle where exercising O₂ demands may increase 100-fold, challenges our understanding of O₂ transport. To power cellular energetics O₂ reaches its muscle mitochondrial target by dissociating from hemoglobin, crossing the red cell membrane, plasma, endothelial surface layer, endothelial cell, interstitial space, myocyte sarcolemma and a variable expanse of cytoplasm before traversing the mitochondrial outer/inner membranes and reacting with reduced cytochrome c and protons. This past century our understanding of O₂'s passage across the body's final O₂ frontier has been completely revised. This review considers the latest structural and functional data, challenging the following entrenched notions: (1) That O₂ moves freely across blood cell membranes. (2) The Krogh-Erlang model whereby O₂ pressure decreases systematically from capillary to mitochondria. (3) Whether intramyocyte diffusion distances matter. (4) That mitochondria are separate organelles rather than coordinated and highly plastic syncytia. (5) The roles of free versus myoglobin-facilitated O₂ diffusion. (6) That myocytes develop anoxic loci. These questions, and the intriguing notions that (1) cellular membranes, including interconnected mitochondrial membranes, act as low resistance conduits for O₂, lipids and H⁺-electrochemical transport and (2) that myoglobin oxy/deoxygenation state controls mitochondrial oxidative function via nitric oxide, challenge established tenets of muscle metabolic control. These elements redefine muscle O₂ transport models essential for the development of effective therapeutic countermeasures to pathological decrements in O₂ supply and physical performance.

Muscle Oxygenation Level Might Trigger the Regulation of Capillary Venous Blood Filling during Fatiguing Isometric Muscle Actions

The regulation of oxygen and blood supply during isometric muscle actions is still unclear. Recently, two behavioral types of oxygen saturation (SvO2) and relative hemoglobin amount (rHb) in venous microvessels were described during a fatiguing holding isometric muscle action (HIMA) (type I: nearly parallel behavior of SvO2 and rHb; type II: partly inverse behavior). The study aimed to ascertain an explanation of these two regulative behaviors. Twelve subjects performed one fatiguing HIMA trial with each arm by weight holding at 60% of the maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) in a 90° elbow flexion. Six subjects additionally executed one fatiguing PIMA trial by pulling on an immovable resistance with 60% of the MVIC with each side and same position. Both regulative types mentioned were found during HIMA (I: n = 7, II: n = 17) and PIMA (I: n = 3, II: n = 9). During the fatiguing measurements, rHb decreased initially and started to increase in type II at an average SvO2-level of 58.75 ± 2.14%. In type I, SvO2 never reached that specific value during loading. This might indicate the existence of a threshold around 59% which seems to trigger the increase in rHb and could explain the two behavioral types. An approach is discussed to meet the apparent incompatibility of an increased capillary blood filling (rHb) despite high intramuscular pressures which were found by other research groups during isometric muscle actions.

Altitude, Exercise, and Skeletal Muscle Angio-Adaptive Responses to Hypoxia: A Complex Story

Hypoxia, defined as a reduced oxygen availability, can be observed in many tissues in response to various physiological and pathological conditions. As a hallmark of the altitude environment, ambient hypoxia results from a drop in the oxygen pressure in the atmosphere with elevation. A hypoxic stress can also occur at the cellular level when the oxygen supply through the local microcirculation cannot match the cells’ metabolic needs. This has been suggested in contracting skeletal myofibers during physical exercise. Regardless of its origin, ambient or exercise-induced, muscle hypoxia triggers complex angio-adaptive responses in the skeletal muscle tissue. These can result in the expression of a plethora of angio-adaptive molecules, ultimately leading to the growth, stabilization, or regression of muscle capillaries. This remarkable plasticity of the capillary network is referred to as angio-adaptation. It can alter the capillary-to-myofiber interface, which represent an important determinant of skeletal muscle function. These angio-adaptive molecules can also be released in the circulation as myokines to act on distant tissues. This review addresses the respective and combined potency of ambient hypoxia and exercise to generate a cellular hypoxic stress in skeletal muscle. The major skeletal muscle angio-adaptive responses to hypoxia so far described in this context will be discussed, including existing controversies in the field. Finally, this review will highlight the molecular complexity of the skeletal muscle angio-adaptive response to hypoxia and identify current gaps of knowledges in this field of exercise and environmental physiology.

Identification of novel sublingual parameters to analyze and diagnose microvascular dysfunction in sepsis: the NOSTRADAMUS study

Background

The availability of handheld, noninvasive sublingual video-microscopes allows for visualization of the microcirculation in critically ill patients. Recent studies demonstrate that reduced numbers of blood-perfused microvessels and increased penetration of erythrocytes into the endothelial glycocalyx are essential components of microvascular dysfunction. The aim of this study was to identify novel microvascular variables to determine the level of microvascular dysfunction in sepsis and its relationship with clinical variables.

Methods

This observational, prospective, cross-sectional study included 51 participants, of which 34 critically ill sepsis patients were recruited from intensive care units of a university hospital. Seventeen healthy volunteers served as controls. All participants underwent sublingual videomicroscopy by sidestream darkfield imaging. A new developed version of the Glycocheck™ software was used to quantify vascular density, perfused boundary region (PBR-an inverse variable of endothelial glycocalyx dimensions), red blood cell (RBC) velocity, RBC content, and blood flow in sublingual microvessels with diameters between 4 and 25 µm.

Results

A detailed analysis of adjacent diameter classes (1 µm each) of vessels between 4 and 25 µm revealed a severe reduction of vascular density in very small capillaries (5–7 µm), which correlated with markers of sepsis severity. Analysis of RBC velocity (V_RBC) revealed a strong dependency between capillary and feed vessel V_RBC in sepsis patients (R² = 0.63, p < 0.0001) but not in healthy controls (R² = 0.04, p = 0.43), indicating impaired capillary (de-)recruitment in sepsis. This finding enabled the calculation of capillary recruitment and dynamic capillary blood volume (CBV_dynamic). Moreover, adjustment of PBR to feed vessel V_RBC further improved discrimination between sepsis patients and controls by about 50%. By combining these dynamic microvascular and glycocalyx variables, we developed the microvascular health score (MVHS_dynamic™), which decreased from 7.4 [4.6–8.7] in controls to 1.8 [1.4–2.7] in sepsis patients (p < 0.0001) and correlated with sepsis severity.

Conclusion

We introduce new important diameter-specific quantification and differentiated analysis of RBC kinetics, a key to understand microvascular dysfunction in sepsis. MVHS_dynamic, which has a broad bandwidth to detect microvascular (dys-) function, might serve as a valuable tool to detect microvascular impairment in critically ill patients.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13054-021-03520-w.

SARS CoV-2 related microvascular damage and symptoms during and after COVID-19: Consequences of capillary transit-time changes, tissue hypoxia and inflammation

Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes symptoms from multiple organs after infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS CoV-2). They range from early, low blood oxygen levels (hypoxemia) without breathlessness ("silent hypoxia"), delirium, rashes, and loss of smell (anosmia), to persisting chest pain, muscle weakness and -pain, fatigue, confusion, memory problems and difficulty to concentrate ("brain fog"), mood changes, and unexpected onset of hypertension or diabetes. SARS CoV-2 affects the microcirculation, causing endothelial cell swelling and damage (endotheliitis), microscopic blood clots (microthrombosis), capillary congestion, and damage to pericytes that are integral to capillary integrity and barrier function, tissue repair (angiogenesis), and scar formation. Similar to other instances of critical illness, COVID-19 is also associated with elevated cytokine levels in the systemic circulation. This review examines how capillary damage and inflammation may contribute to these acute and persisting COVID-19 symptoms by interfering with blood and tissue oxygenation and with brain function. Undetectable by current diagnostic methods, capillary flow disturbances limit oxygen diffusion exchange in lungs and tissue and may therefore cause hypoxemia and tissue hypoxia. The review analyzes the combined effects of COVID-19-related capillary damage, pre-existing microvascular changes, and upstream vascular tone on tissue oxygenation in key organs. It identifies a vicious cycle, as infection- and hypoxia-related inflammation cause capillary function to deteriorate, which in turn accelerates hypoxia-related inflammation and tissue damage. Finally, the review addresses the effects of low oxygen and high cytokine levels in brain tissue on neurotransmitter synthesis and mood. Methods to assess capillary functions in human organs and therapeutic means to protect capillary functions and stimulate capillary bed repair may prove important for the individualized management of COVID-19 patients and targeted rehabilitation strategies.

August Krogh: Muscle capillary function and oxygen delivery

The capillary bed constitutes the obligatory pathway for almost all oxygen (O₂) and substrate molecules as they pass from blood to individual cells. As the largest organ, by mass, skeletal muscle contains a prodigious surface area of capillaries that have a critical role in metabolic homeostasis and must support energetic requirements that increase as much as 100-fold from rest to maximal exercise. In 1919 Krogh's 3 papers, published in the Journal of Physiology, brilliantly conflated measurements of muscle capillary function at rest and during contractions with Agner K. Erlang's mathematical model of O₂ diffusion. These papers single-handedly changed the perception of capillaries from passive vessels serving at the mercy of their upstream arterioles into actively contracting vessels that were recruited during exercise to elevate blood-myocyte O₂ flux. Although seminal features of Krogh's model have not withstood the test of time and subsequent technological developments, Krogh is credited with helping found the field of muscle microcirculation and appreciating the role of the capillary bed and muscle O₂ diffusing capacity in facilitating blood-myocyte O₂ flux. Today, thanks in large part to Krogh, it is recognized that comprehending the role of the microcirculation, as it supports perfusive and diffusive O₂ conductances, is fundamental to understanding skeletal muscle plasticity with exercise training and resolving the mechanistic bases by which major pathologies including heart failure and diabetes cripple exercise tolerance and cerebrovascular dysfunction predicates impaired executive function.

Blood flow, capillary transit times, and tissue oxygenation: the centennial of capillary recruitment

The transport of oxygen between blood and tissue is limited by blood's capillary transit time, understood as the time available for diffusion exchange before blood returns to the heart. If all capillaries contribute equally to tissue oxygenation at all times, this physical limitation would render vasodilation and increased blood flow insufficient means to meet increased metabolic demands in the heart, muscle, and other organs. In 1920, Danish physiologist August Krogh was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his mathematical and quantitative, experimental demonstration of a solution to this conceptual problem: capillary recruitment, the active opening of previously closed capillaries to meet metabolic demands. Today, capillary recruitment is still mentioned in textbooks. When we suspect symptoms might represent hypoxia of a vascular origin, however, we search for relevant, flow-limiting conditions in our patients and rarely ascribe hypoxia or hypoxemia to short capillary transit times. This review describes how natural changes in capillary transit-time heterogeneity (CTH) and capillary hematocrit (HCT) across open capillaries during blood flow increases can account for a match of oxygen availability to metabolic demands in normal tissue. CTH and HCT depend on a number of factors: on blood properties, including plasma viscosity, the number, size, and deformability of blood cells, and blood cell interactions with capillary endothelium; on anatomical factors including glycocalyx, endothelial cells, basement membrane, and pericytes that affect the capillary diameter; and on any external compression. The review describes how risk factor- and disease-related changes in CTH and HCT interfere with flow-metabolism coupling and tissue oxygenation and discusses whether such capillary dysfunction contributes to vascular disease pathology.

August Krogh's theory of muscle microvascular control and oxygen delivery: a paradigm shift based on new data

August Krogh twice won the prestigious international Steegen Prize, for nitrogen metabolism (1906) and overturning the concept of active transport of gases across the pulmonary epithelium (1910). Despite this, at the beginning of 1920, the consummate experimentalist was relatively unknown worldwide and even among his own University of Copenhagen faculty. But, in early 1919, he had submitted three papers to Dr Langley, then editor of The Journal of Physiology in England. These papers coalesced anatomical observations of skeletal muscle capillary numbers with O₂ diffusion theory to propose a novel active role for capillaries that explained the prodigious increase in blood-muscle O₂ flux from rest to exercise. Despite his own appraisal of the first two papers as "rather dull" to his friend, the eminent Cambridge respiratory physiologist, Joseph Barcroft, Krogh believed that the third one, dealing with O₂ supply and capillary regulation, was"interesting". These papers, which won Krogh an unopposed Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1920, form the foundation for this review. They single-handedly transformed the role of capillaries from passive conduit and exchange vessels, functioning at the mercy of their upstream arterioles, into independent contractile units that were predominantly closed at rest and opened actively during muscle contractions in a process he termed 'capillary recruitment'. Herein we examine Krogh's findings and some of the experimental difficulties he faced. In particular, the boundary conditions selected for his model (e.g. heavily anaesthetized animals, negligible intramyocyte O₂ partial pressure, binary open-closed capillary function) have not withstood the test of time. Subsequently, we update the reader with intervening discoveries that underpin our current understanding of muscle microcirculatory control and place a retrospectroscope on Krogh's discoveries. The perspective is presented that the imprimatur of the Nobel Prize, in this instance, may have led scientists to discount compelling evidence. Much as he and Marie Krogh demonstrated that active transport of gases across the blood-gas barrier was unnecessary in the lung, capillaries in skeletal muscle do not open and close spontaneously or actively, nor is this necessary to account for the increase in blood-muscle O₂ flux during exercise. Thus, a contemporary model of capillary function features most muscle capillaries supporting blood flow at rest, and, rather than capillaries actively vasodilating from rest to exercise, increased blood-myocyte O₂ flux occurs predominantly via elevating red blood cell and plasma flux in already flowing capillaries. Krogh is lauded for his brilliance as an experimentalist and for raising scientific questions that led to fertile avenues of investigation, including the study of microvascular function.