A thermistor device for the continuous recording of mass transport velocity in tissue based on the heat clearance principle. Calibration in vitro and testing in vivo

AbstractThe study of local metabolism in the brain cortex of a test animal, in normal situations, during hypoxia and after administration of pharmaca, requires, beside the measurement of tissue partial oxygen pressure (pO2) electrocortical activity and blood pressure, an estimation of the supply of oxygen, i.e. the measuring of local cerebral blood flow. In the literature, a number of methods has already been described, most of them being based on the flow-dependent distribution of an inert tracer in the tissue. We have developed an instrument, based on the heat clearance principle, for the purpose of continuous flow measurement during chronical experiments (Vermarien et al., 1984).