Regional blood flow in the pig cortex during increased carbon dioxide pressure with local atraumatic application of 133Xenon.

A method for measuring regional cerebral blood flow with local application of 133Xenon was used. A polyester film was placed on pig cerebral cortex under which 0.6-1.3 mCi of 133Xenon dissolved in 2-4 microliter of saline was applied atraumatically. The wash-out process was registered with an external detector. The wash-out curves were not contaminated by extra-cerebral tissue and there was no 'looking-through phenomenon' of non-perfused parts of the brain. Regional cerebral blood flow was 142 +/- 14 ml X 100 g-1 X min-1 (mean +/- S.D.) in grey matter and 34 +/- 9 ml X 100 g-1 X min-1 in white matter when PaCO2 was normal (4.92 +/- 0.43 kPa). When PaCO2 was increased to 9.3 +/- 1.39 kPa regional cerebral blood flow was increased to 313 +/- 60 ml X 100 g-1 X min-1 in grey matter and to 46 +/- 20 ml X 100g-1 X min-1 in white matter.