Measurement of regional cerebral blood flow in cat brain using intracarotid 2 H 2 O and 2 H NMR imaging

Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured in cat brain in vivo at 2.7 T using 2 H NMR to monitor the washout of deuterated saline injected into both carotid arteries via the lingual arteries. In anesthetized cats, global CBF varied directly with P aCO 2 over a range of 20‐50 mm Hg, and the corresponding global CBF values ranged from 25 to 125 ml‐100 g −1 min −1 . Regional CBF was measured in a 1‐cm axial section of cat brain using intracarotid deuterated saline and gradient‐echo 2 H NMR imaging. Blood flow images with a maximum pixel resolution of 0.3 × 0.3 × 1.0 cm were generated from the deuterium signal washout at each pixel. Image derived values for CBF agreed well with other determinations, and decreased significantly with hypocapnia. © 1990 Academic Press, Inc.