This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Reich, T. Articles by Rusinek, H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Reich, T. Articles by Rusinek, H.

Stroke, Vol 20, 453-457, Copyright © 1989 by American Heart Association

ARTICLES

Cerebral cortical and white matter reactivity to carbon dioxide

T Reich and H Rusinek
Department of Surgery, New York University Medical Center, New York 10016.

We measured cerebrovascular reactivity to carbon dioxide in the cerebral cortex and the subcortical white matter of 12 healthy adult volunteers (four young subjects aged 21-24, four middle-aged subjects aged 34-40, and four elderly subjects aged 62-85 years). Blood flow was computed from the concentration history of xenon-133 in the volume of interest measured with an ultrapure germanium detector array. End-tidal PaCO2 ranged from 35.4 to 42.6 mm Hg. The mean +/- SD baseline blood flows in the cerebral cortex were 60 +/- 7, 51 +/- 9, and 33 +/- 4 ml/100 cm3/min in the young, the middle-aged, and the elderly subjects, respectively; the corresponding subcortical white matter baseline blood flows were 21 +/- 1, 22 +/- 3, and 16 +/- 5 ml/100 cm3/min. Mean +/- SD cerebrovascular reactivities to carbon dioxide in the cerebral cortex were 2.03 +/- 0.58, 1.36 +/- 0.41, and 0.72 +/- 0.19 ml/100 cm3/min/mm Hg PaCO2 for the young, the middle-aged, and the elderly subjects, respectively; the corresponding reactivities in the subcortical white matter were 0.69 +/- 0.11, 0.59 +/- 0.17, and 0.36 +/- 0.41 ml/100 cm3/min/mm Hg PaCO2. Blood flow and cerebrovascular reactivity in the cerebral cortex of the young subjects were significantly higher than those for white matter and significantly higher than those in the elderly subjects (p less than 0.001). Age vs. blood flow (for the cortex) and age vs. cerebrovascular reactivity (for both cortical gray and subcortical white matter) also showed significant linear correlation (p less than 0.05). However, the age-related changes in white matter blood flow and cerebrovascular reactivity were slow, and the differences among the age groups were not statistically significant.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Hiroki, T. Uema, N. Kajimura, K. Ogawa, M. Nishikawa, M. Kato, T. Watanabe, T. Nakajima, H. Takano, E. Imabayashi, et al. Cerebral white matter blood flow is constant during human non-rapid eye movement sleep: a positron emission tomographic study J Appl Physiol, May 1, 2005; 98(5): 1846 - 1854. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H.A.K. Browne, L. Adams, A.K. Simonds, and M.J. Morrell Ageing does not influence the sleep-related decrease in the hypercapnic ventilatory response Eur. Respir. J., March 1, 2003; 21(3): 523 - 529. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C.-L. Chao and Y.-T. Lee Impairment of Cerebrovascular Reactivity by Methionine-Induced Hyperhomocysteinemia and Amelioration by Quinapril Treatment Stroke, December 1, 2000; 31(12): 2907 - 2911. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Kastrup, J. Dichgans, M. Niemeier, and M. Schabet Changes of Cerebrovascular CO2 Reactivity During Normal Aging Stroke, July 1, 1998; 29(7): 1311 - 1314. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. Thorin-Trescases, J. A. Bevan, and W. J. Pearce High Levels of Myogenic Tone Antagonize the Dilator Response to Flow of Small Rabbit Cerebral Arteries • Editorial Comment Stroke, June 1, 1998; 29(6): 1194 - 1201. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]