Oxygen fields in specific spinal loci of the canine spinal cord.

Oxygen tension (PO2) measurements were made in the dog spinal cord with a small recessed-tip oxygen microelectrode. The use of vibration and specific marking techniques has allowed the elimination of tissue compression artifacts and the mapping of regional PO2 in the thoracic spinal cord. A symmetrical distribution of PO2 values can be shown for the lateral white funiculi; the gray matter and dorsal columns have multimodal distributions. Statistical evaluation showed all these areas to have different PO2 profiles; PO2 values (mmHg) were 61.2 +/- 12.4 for the lateral white funiculi, 55.3 +/- 19.0 for the dorsal columns, and 30.0 +/- 13.6 in spinal gray. The relatively normal distribution patterns of these oxygen tensions indicate that traditional statistical methods may be used to compare and evaluate oxygen diffusion fields in the adult spinal cord.