Myocardial blood flow determined with krypton 85 in unanesthetized dogs

¹ Department of Physiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

Serial, rapid measurements of left ventricular myocardial blood flow in trained, unanesthetized dogs have been made by injecting krypton 85 through chronically implanted coronary artery catheters and counting with an external scintillation detector. Precordial radioactivity declined as a single exponential function during the first 2 min after injection, suggesting a single rate of myocardial blood flow. Simultaneous estimations with Kr⁸⁵ and blood flowmeters in acute experiments established the accuracy and reproducibility of the technique. Myocardial blood flows between 40 and 55 ml/100 g/min were observed repeatedly in three well-trained, unanesthetized dogs in the basal state.