抄録
A small-sized flow probe, 8 mm in diameter, was manufactured for the continuous measurement of cerebral blood flow (CBF) by thermal diffusion. It is a modification of Carter's and incorporates a Peltier stack to create a temperature gradient between the two sensors, one cooled and the other heated, which were connected to both sides of the stack. A current supplied to the stack was adjusted to generate a temperature gradient of about 5°C in water. With this given current the temperature gradient was held constant, when the water temperature varied from 30°C to 40°C. Using 8 cats, temperature gradients were compared with CBF values by the hydrogen clearance method for quantitative assessment. It was confirmed that the correlation between the CBF values calculated from temperature gradients using the equation proposed by others and those from the hydrogen clearance has linear characteristics. Moreover, it appeared that calibration was not required for the quantitative assessment in each experiment, if the flow probe evaluated beforehand was applied to the same kind of experimental animals.
From these results, it is suggested that CBF can be monitored continuously as well as quantitatively by thermal diffusion using this type of flow probe.
