Development of a fluorescent microsphere technique for rapid histological determination of cerebral blood flow

• Published in: Brain research Vol. 1326; pp. 128 - 134
• Main Authors: Eucker, Stephanie A, Hoffman, Brenton D, Natesh, Rahul, Ralston, Jill, Armstead, William M, Margulies, Susan S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 22.04.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Pressure - physiology; Brain - blood supply; Cerebral blood flow; Cerebrovascular Circulation - physiology; Female; Fluorescent microsphere; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hemodynamics. Rheology; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; Microscopy, Fluorescence - methods; Microspheres; Neurology; Pig; Regional Blood Flow - physiology; Swine; Vertebrates: cardiovascular system; CBF; FM; mean arterial blood pressure; cerebral blood flow; fluorescent microsphere; MAP; Pig; Fluorescent microsphere; Cerebral blood flow; Regional blood flow; Microsphere; Central nervous system; Encephalon; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Fluorescent labelling; Animal; Development; Artiodactyla; Hemodynamics; Technique; Ungulata
• ISSN: 0006-8993; 1872-6240
• DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2010.02.059

Abstract The purpose of this study was to develop a more efficient fluorescent microsphere method to facilitate the rapid use of the histological technique and to enable its use in large tissue regions. Using fluorescent plate/slide imaging technology and automated detection and analysis software, we were able to rapidly image, detect, and count 3 separate microsphere colors in 200 μm thick tissue sections from piglet brain. In resting newborn piglets ( n = 6) on isoflurane anesthesia, we measured a median total cerebral blood flow (CBF) of 105 ml/min/100 g (range 27–206 ml/min/100 g). Compared with other FM analysis methods, our method reduces the time required to determine blood flow, improves accuracy in lipid-rich tissues and large tissue regions and, unlike the radiolabeled microsphere method, can be combined with histological analysis.