Regional brain blood flow in mouse: Quantitative measurement using a single-pass radio-tracer method and a mathematical algorithm

Abstract

We1 have developed a reliable experimental method for measuring local regional cerebral blood flows in anesthetized mice. This method is an extension of the well-established single-pass dual-label indicator method for simultaneously measuring blood flow and glucose influx in rat brains. C57BL6J mice (n = 10) were anesthetized and regional blood flows (ml/min/g) were measured using the radio-tracer method. To test the sensitivity of this method we used a mathematical algorithm to predict the blood flows and compared the two sets of results.Measured regional blood flows between 0.7 and 1.7 ml/min/g were similar to those we have previously reported in the rat. The predicted blood flows using an assumed linearly increasing arterial tracer concentration-versus- time profile (that is, a ramp) were similar to the valuesmeasured in the physiological experiments (R2 0.99; slope 0.91). Thus,measurements of local regional cerebral blood flow in anesthetized mice using a single-pass radio-tracer method appear to be reliable. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.