A method for preferential delivery of volatile anesthetics to the in situ goat brain.

Background: As part of studies aimed at better defining the effects of anesthetics at different anatomic sites, we have developed a model of preferentially delivering inhaled anesthetics to the in situ goat brain, using a bubble oxygenator and roller pump. We tested the hypotheses that (1) this model excludes the cerebral circulation from the body; (2) the concentration of halothane in the oxygenator exhaust correlates with the concentration of halothane in the oxygenator arterial blood.
Methods: After ligation of the occipital arteries in six halothane-anesthetized goats, we used a bubble oxygenator to perfuse the brain preferentially (exclusive of the body) via a carotid artery, draining cranial venous blood back into the oxygenator via the isolated jugular veins. (In goats, the vertebral arteries do not directly contribute to the cerebral circulation, and internal jugular veins and extracranial internal carotid arteries are absent). The extent of isolation was determined with radioactive microspheres injected into the left atrium during the following periods: (1) baseline; (2) during bypass when the blood pressure in the head equalled that in the body; (3) during bypass when the blood pressure in the body exceeded that in the head by approximately 30-35 mmHg; (4) when the bypass roller pump was stopped. We also measured the concentration of halothane in the arterial blood of the bypass unit. In three animals, systemic metocurine was administered during bypass to detect the presence of venous contamination.
Results: Baseline cerebral blood flow was 74 +/- 32 ml.100 g-1.min-1 (mean +/- SD). During bypass, cerebral blood flow originating from the systemic circulation was less than 1 ml.100 g-1.min-1, and isolation extended to the caudal medulla during periods 3 and 4, and to the first 1-cm segment of the spinal cord during period 2. The concentration of halothane in the oxygenator exhaust correlated reasonably well with the arterial halothane concentration (r = 0.82, P < 0.001). Systemic arterial metocurine concentrations peaked at 1 min (27 +/- 3.7 micrograms/ml) and decreased to 10.6 +/- 2.3 micrograms/ml at 10 min; head venous metocurine plasma concentrations gradually increased to 3.1 +/- 0.4 micrograms/ml at 10 min.
Conclusions: This technique permits selective perfusion and delivery of inhaled anesthetics to the in situ goat brain, but is not adequate for selective delivery of fixed intravenous anesthetics.