A Venous Outflow Method for Continuously Monitoring Cerebral Blood Flow in the Rat

We analyzed the retroglenoid venous outflow (VOF) technique in the rat to document the validity of this method of measuring cerebral blood flow (CBF). Stereotypic changes in CBF were obtained with VOF during hypercarbia and hypotension. O2 content of retroglenoid venous blood did not differ significantly from O2 content of blood obtained from the sagittal sinus, suggesting minimal extracerebral contamination of the retroglenoid venous blood. This lack of extracerebral contamination was further analyzed using a double tracer technique (125I-labeled serum albumin, 22Na) that quantitated minimal extracerebral contamination in the retroglenoid vein. CBF measurements were made simultaneously using microsphere and VOF methods, and excellent correlation was found between the two techniques over a wide range of CBF during normoxia, hypoxia, and normoxic hypocarbia and hypercarbia. However, a decrease in the ratio of VOF to microsphere CBF was observed during severe normoxic hypotension (mean arterial pressure = 41 +/- 4 mmHg). VOF represented 18% of total CBF as measured by microsphere method. This study indicates that the retroglenoid outflow technique in rats is a valid method of measuring CBF.