In vivo measurement of pyridine nucleotide fluorescence from cat brain cortex

A modification of the methods is described which makes it possible to measure pyridine nucleotide fluorescence from the brain cortex in vivo without interference from movement and hemodynamic artifacts. Movement artifacts were eliminated by the use of a window technique. Fluorescence changes due to changes in hemoglobin oxygenation have been eliminated by measuring fluorescence at an isobestic wavelength of the hemoglobin-oxyhemoglobin reaction. The interference due to changes in red blood cell concentration has been studied by simultaneous measurements of fluorescence and ultraviolet reflection. Hemodilution revealed a linear relationship between the fluorescence from the pyridine nucleotide and reflected ultraviolet light. The ratio between the light absorption changes was approximately unity under the particular optical geometry employed in this study. This method has been used to measure fluorescence changes produced by nitrogen anoxia. The technique is discussed in relation to previous methods and the effects of anoxia are compared to previous findings.