Stroke, Vol 14, 797-802, Copyright © 1983 by American Heart Association
B Nilsson and BK Siesjo
A technique for continuous measurement of cerebral venous outflow in the
rat is described. The method involves cannulation of one retroglenoid vein
close to its exit from the skull, and diversion of cerebral venous blood
through a closed extracorporal circuit with a drop recording device, the
blood being returned to the central venous circulation via a catheter in
the external jugular vein. Occlusion of the contralateral retroglenoid vein
increases measured flow and minimizes extracerebral contamination of the
diverted cerebral venous blood. The venous outflow system is not further
isolated from cerebral or potential extracerebral collaterals. Thus, the
mass of tissue drained cannot be exactly defined anatomically. However, the
experiments involving changes of PP, arterial CO2 tension, and induction of
epileptic seizure activity, and simultaneous indirect measurements with
radioactive tracer technique, indicate that significant extracerebral
contamination does not occur and that in short term measurements the venous
outflow represents cerebral blood flow (CBF) in a constant mass of (dorsal
and central, mainly forebrain) cerebral tissue. Measurement of arterial
blood pressure and pressure in the cisterna magna allows calculation of
cerebral perfusion pressure (PP). By simultaneous measurement of arterial
and cerebral venous oxygen content changes in cerebral oxygen consumption
(CMRO2) can be calculated. The method has been applied to document several
situations of transient CBF and CMRO2 changes.
ARTICLES
A venous outflow method for measurement of rapid changes of the cerebral blood flow and oxygen consumption in the rat