Sulfhemoglobinated erythrocytes as an optical intravascular tracer in the lung.

Sulfhemoglobinated erythrocytes (SHb-RBC's) were examined for utility as an optical multiple indicator dilution tracer in lung studies. A device was developed to measure this tracer optically in flowing blood. Arterial blood was sampled from cannulated, anesthetized dogs and pumped through the device that measured the optical density (OD) of blood at 620 nm. This system was calibrated for increasing SHb-RBC concentrations using an unsteady-state indicator dilution procedure. Areas under optical density (delta OD) profiles were well correlated with injected SHb-RBC volumes using linear regression (r2 > 0.9). This linearity was independent of blood oxygenation, hematocrit, or pH. In vivo lung indicator dilution studies in the intact dog were performed and compared to radioisotope indicator studies using 51Cr labeled erythrocytes. Coefficient of variation (CV) between the two curves was 0.065 under baseline conditions, 0.085 for studies performed during hypoxia, and 0.073 after pH was lowered. We conclude that this device linearly measured SHb-RBC content in whole blood and that SHb-RBC is as accurate a lung indicator dilution tracer as 51Cr-erythrocytes.