Figure 2.

A schematic diagram of ex-vivo measurement of axial stretch using ex vivo setup. The vessel was pressurized using a syringe pump at ~0.5 mmHg to determine the minimum length at which the vessel does not bend (unloaded length). Length was measured using a LabView program and axial stretch was determined with respect to unloaded length and actuators were used to change axial stretch. A custom-written LabView program was used to track contractions as a function of time. An image of a rat tail lymphatic vessel cannulated on glass micropipettes along with respective raw traces of contractions at different stretches are shown.