Measurement of po2 in liver using epr oximetry. Jiang, Jinjie, Toshiaki Nakashima, Ke Jian Liu, Fuminori Goda, Toshi Shima, Harold M. Swartz. Department of Radiology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH 03755
APStracts 2:0435A, 1995.
Using India ink and lithium phthalocyanine (LiPc) as EPR oximetry probes, the oxygen tension (pO2) of the liver was investigated in mice. Since India ink was taken up by the Kupffer cells of the liver, the EPR signal of the India ink reflected the average pO2 in phagocytic vesicles of these cells. The mean value of pO2 in the Kupffer cells measured by India ink was 15.3 +/- 4.4 mm Hg in unanesthetized animals. LiPc was administered as a macroscopic crystal and therefore reflected the pO2 of the overall liver. The pO2 measured by LiPc was 23.4 +/- 4.4 mm Hg which is consistent with the median value of 23.5 mm Hg reported previously with the use of an oxygen electrode. Anesthesia (intraperitoneal injection of 60 mg/kg sodium pentobarbital) decreased the average pO2 in both Kupffer cells and the overall liver. The effects of perturbing the blood flow were studied by reversible blockage of the portal vein and hepatic artery in anesthetized mice; the pO2 both in Kupffer cells (measured with India ink) and in overall liver (measured with LiPc) decreased with obstruction of the blood flow and returned toward normal with reperfusion. These results indicate that the pO2 in different locations in the liver can be significantly different under both normal conditions and after perturbation by either anesthesia or ischemia. These results also demonstrate that EPR oximetry can provide sensitive measurements of pO2 in the liver in vivo under various conditions.

Received 8 May 1995; accepted in final form 19 September 1995.
APS Manuscript Number A500-5.
Article publication pending Journal of Applied Physiology.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 6 November 95