Quantitative determination of the partial oxygen pressure in the vitrectomized rabbit eye in vivo using 19F NMR

We have quantitatively determined the PO2 within the vitreous space of the vitrectomized rabbit eye in vivo using 19F NMR and perfluorotributylamine (FTBA). The results of the present work are in good agreement with previous measurements of PO2 within the nonvitrectimized rabbit eye obtained using oxygen microelectrodes. In this study, good precision and accuracy were achieved by: (1) having minimal flow effects present, (2) optimizing the signal-to-noise through the use of neat FTBA and surface coil transmission and detection, and (3) performing an inversion-recovery pulse sequence, with adiabatic pulses, to optimize the dynamic range of the T1 experiment. Possible deleterious effects on the measured T1 due to the vitreal temperature gradient are discussed. To the best of our knowledge the results of this study demonstrate, for the first time, a quantitative determination of intraocular PO2 in vivo using 19F NMR and FTBA.