Relative volume‐average murine tumor blood flow measurement via deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

A deuterium NMR spectroscopic method to determine relative tumor blood flow (TBF) by measuring the increase in tumor HOD concentration after intravenous injection of 100 μl D 2 O (0.9% NaCl) is presented. An integration approach analogous to that validated for positron emission tomographic measurement of cerebral blood flow was implemented. Computer simulations indicated that integration from 30 to 120 s minimizes the sensitivity of the uptake integral to the shape of the arterial input function, which cannot be assessed in each mouse, while maintaining both a nearly linear relationship between TBF and the integral and high NMR signal‐to‐noise. A strong positive linear correlation was observed between the uptake integral and TBF measured by D 2 O clearance in both untreated tumors ( n = 19; P < 0.001) and tumors after hyperthermia ( n = 16; P < 0.001). This method can measure relative TBF in tumors with heterogeneous blood flow and is ideally suited to concurrent or interleaved measurement of TBF and metabolism via multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. © 1991 Academic Press. Inc.