Comparison of microspheres and 86Rb+ as tracers of the distribution of cardiac output in rats indicates invalidity of 86Rb+-based measurements.

The technique of using gamma-labeled plastic microspheres (15 +/- 5 micrometer) to measure cardiac output (CO) and its fractional distribution (FD) to individual tissues and organs was judged by various criteria to give valid data when applied to barbital-sedated warm-acclimated or cold-acclimated (CA) white rats, which were either resting or responding calorigenically to infused noradrenaline (NA). The FD of CO to each of 16 tissues or organs of CA rats at rest or responding to NA was then estimated both with 86Rb+ and with microspheres, the two tracers being injected simultaneously. For only seven of the tissues examined in resting rats and only one in NA-infused rats was the FD of CO estimated with 86Rb+ not significantly different from that estimated with microspheres. 86Rb+ to microsphere ratios of the FD of CO to individual tissues ranged from 3.5 and 3.0 for liver and skeletal muscle, respectively, down to 0.09 and 0.07 for brown adipose tissue (BAT) and brain. Since microsphere-based estimates of blood flow to the interscapular BAT of CA rats responding to NA were corroborated by direct measurements of venous efflux from the tissue, it is unequivocal that the 86Rb+-based estimate of the fraction of CO directed to interscapular BAT was highly erroneous. When considered along with data from the literature, the present findings support a conclusion that the uptake of 86Rb+ by a tissue frequently does not provide a valid measure of the FD of CO to the tissue. Some of the factors that are likely responsible for this situation are discussed, and it is suggested that only by a fortuitous combination of circumstances does the uptake of 86Rb+ by a tissue sometimes match the FD of CO to the tissue.