Cochlear blood flow studied with microspheres. A comparison between two different modifications of the microsphere method.

In albino rabbits, spontaneously hypertensive rats, and guinea pigs, cochlear blood flow was measured with the microsphere method, using radioactively labelled microspheres technique and a gammaspectrometer. This 'conventional' microsphere method was compared with a new technique for measurements of cochlear blood flow: a modification of the 'radioactive' microsphere technique and the soft surface specimen technique. Values obtained for cochlear blood flow by the two different methods were similar. Consequently, the microsphere surface technique is a suitable alternative to the classical radioactive microsphere method for blood flow determinations in the cochlea.