Regulation of spinal cord blood flow in the rat as measured by quantitative autoradiography.

Spinal cord blood flow (SCBF) and its response to alterations in blood gases and to systemic hypotension, haemodilution and barbiturate anaesthesia were measured in 47 rats at the level of Th 7-8 by quantitative autoradiography with [14C]iodoantipyrine ([14C]IAP) as tracer. During normocapnia and normoxia the mean SCBF values in the grey and white matter were 94 +/- 21 and 17 +/- 3 ml min-1 100 g-1, respectively. SCBF was highly dependent on PaCO2. Thus in hypercapnic animals (PaCO2 greater than 9 kPa) SCBF was increased in grey and white matter to 228 +/- 22 and 54 +/- 7 ml min-1 100 g-1, while during hypocapnia (PaCO2 less than 3.9 kPa) it was decreased to 64 +/- 14 and 11 +/- 2 ml min-1 100 g-1, respectively. Mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) was reduced by withdrawal of blood to 80 +/- 8 mmHg in a light hypotension group and to 53 +/- 11 mmHg in a severe hypotension group, compared with 126 +/- 13 mmHg in a control group. There was no significant difference in SCBF between the control group and the hypotension groups, suggesting that autoregulation is maintained down to an MABP of at least 50 mmHg. Normovolaemic haemodilution, with a reduction of the haematocrit from 50 +/- 2 to 33 +/- 3, increased SCBF to 113 +/- 9 ml min-1 100 g-1 in grey matter and to 21 +/- 12 ml min-1 100 g-1 in white matter.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)