MICROCIRCULATION-STARLING FORCES

SUMMARY

The rate of filtration at any point along a capillary depends on the balance of forces called Starling forces:


1. Hydrostatic pressure gradient: hydrostatic pressure in the capillary - hydrostatic pressure in the interstitial fluid

2. Osmotic pressure gradient: colloid osmotic pressure of plasma - colloid osmotic pressure of interstitial fluid

3. Capillary filtration coefficient: proportional to the permeability of the capillary wall & area available for filtration

Reference(s)

Barrett, K.E., Barman, S.M., Boitano, S., Brooks, H.L., Weitz, M., Brian Patrick Kearns, Ganong, W.F. and Mcgraw-Hill Education (Firm (2016). Ganong’s review of medical physiology. 25th ed. New York: Mcgraw Hill Education.
Hall, J.E. and Hall, M.E. (2020). Guyton And Hall Textbook Of Medical Physiology. 14th ed. S.L.: Elsevier - Health Science.
West, J.B. and Luks, A.M. (2021). West’s Pulmonary Pathophysiology. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.