Countercurrent transfer of dopamine from venous blood in the cavernous sinus to the arterial blood supplying the brain - the perfused rabbit head as an experimental model.

The objective of the current study was to check whether countercurrent transfer of dopamine occurs in the cavernous sinus of the rabbit and whether the rabbit can be used as an animal model to study cavernous sinus function. After exsanguination of the animal, oxygenated and warmed (37°C) Hanseneleit-Krebs buffer with autologous or homologous blood (in a 3:1 or 1:1 ratio) was pumped through both common carotid arteries into the head (60 ml/min; 80-100 mm Hg) and radiolabeled dopamine (3(H)-DA, 10 μCi) was infused into the cavernous sinus through the angular oculi vein. Cerebral blood from the basilar artery was collected from the cannulated vertebral artery during 3(H)-DA infusion and for 10 minutes after completion of infusion. Selected brain tissue samples were collected after completion of the head perfusion. It was demonstrated that dopamine can penetrate from the rabbit's cavernous sinus to the internal carotid artery supplying the brain. Dopamine permeation was greater when the rabbit head was perfused with buffer and blood in a 3:1 ratio than with 1:1 (P<0.01). When the head was perfused with buffer and blood in a 3:1 ratio, significant radioactivity was found in samples collected from the brain basilar artery during and after 3(H)-DA infusion (P<0.001). The radioactivity was identified as 34.13 ± 2.7% unmetabolized 3(H)-DA and 65.9 ± 2.7% its metabolites. Significant radioactivity was also found in some brain tissue samples in both groups (P<0.05). The concentration of free radiolabeled dopamine particles in the dialysate of blood plasma and plasma diluted with buffer did not differ significantly. Because the structures of the cavernous sinus and cavernous fragment of the internal carotid artery of the rabbit are similar to those in humans, it suggests that rabbits can serve as a model for experimental physiological studies of cavernous sinus function and retrograde dopamine transfer in the cavernous sinus should be considered as an important link in the genesis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Parkinson's disease.