鲸目动物有大量的血管丛（迷网），其功能尚不清楚。所有的脑血流都通过这些血管，研究人员假设它们保护鲸类的大脑不受运动产生的脉动血压的影响。研究人员提出鲸类已经演化出一种脉冲转移机制，它可以最大限度地减少脑动脉与静脉压力差的脉动性，而不会抑制压力脉冲本身。
研究人员使用了基于11个物种的形态计算模型测试了这一假设，发现迷网的大动脉容量，加上颅骨和椎管的小血管外容量，可以保护脑血管免受97%的系统脉动的影响。鲸类中迷网复合体的演化，很可能与背腹腔的发育有关，从而为解决运动产生的不良血管脉动提供了独特的解决方案。
附：英文原文
Title: Retia mirabilia: Protecting the cetacean brain from locomotion-generated blood pressure pulses
Author: M. A. Lillie, A. W. Vogl, S. G. Gerard, S. Raverty, R. E. Shadwick
Issue&Volume: 2022-09-23
Abstract: Cetaceans have massive vascular plexuses (retia mirabilia) whose function is unknown. All cerebral blood flow passes through these retia, and we hypothesize that they protect cetacean brains from locomotion-generated pulsatile blood pressures. We propose that cetaceans have evolved a pulse-transfer mechanism that minimizes pulsatility in cerebral arterial-to-venous pressure differentials without dampening the pressure pulses themselves. We tested this hypothesis using a computational model based on morphology from 11 species and found that the large arterial capacitance in the retia, coupled with the small extravascular capacitance in the cranium and vertebral canal, could protect the cerebral vasculature from 97% of systemic pulsatility. Evolution of the retial complex in cetaceans—likely linked to the development of dorsoventral fluking—offers a distinctive solution to adverse locomotion-generated vascular pulsatility.
DOI: abn3315
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn3315