Cerebral oxygenation of the cortex and striatum following normobaric hyperoxia and mild hypoxia in rats by EPR oximetry using multi-probe implantable resonators

Abstract

Multi-site electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) oximetry, using multiprobe implantable resonators, was used to measure the partial pressure of oxygen (pO2) in the brains of rats following normobaric hyperoxia and mild hypoxia. The cerebral tissue pO2 was measured simultaneously in the cerebral cortex and striatum in the same rats before, during, and after normobaric hyperoxia and mild hypoxia challenges. The mean baseline tissue pO2 values were not significantly different between the cortex and striatum.During 30 min of 100% O2 inhalation, a statistically significant increase in tissue pO2 of all four sites was observed, however, the tissue pO2 of the striatum area was significantly higher than in the forelimb area of the cortex. Brain pO2 significantly decreased from the baseline value during 15 min of 15% O2 challenge.No differences in the recovery of the cerebral cortex and striatum pO2 were observed when the rats were allowed to breathe 30% O 2. It appears that EPRoximetry using implantable resonators can provide information on pO2 under the experimental conditions needed for such a study. The levels of pO2 that occurred in these experiments are readily resolvable bymulti-siteEPRoximetrywithmulti-probe resonators. In addition, the ability to simultaneouslymeasure the pO2 in several areas of the brain provides important information that could potentially help differentiate the pO2 changes that can occur due to global or local mechanisms. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.