Visualization of the distance between perfusion and anoxia along an ischemic border

The distance between perfusion and anoxia was measured on the border of an experimental ischemic area in the rabbit heart. Reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) fluorescence photography was used to detect myocardial anoxia. Fluorescein angiography marked areas of myocardial perfusion. The hearts were isolated, perfused with a hemoglobin-free solution and performed no external work. In all hearts there was a narrow band between areas of perfusion and anoxia that measured 329 +/- 42 mu (mean +/- SD). The transition from minimal to full NADH fluorescence was abrupt, less than 80 mu. We conclude that the normoxic/anoxic transition is sharp, and the gap between perfusion and anoxia is narrow along an ischemic border in the isolated heart performing no external work. These data suggest that in the vivo working heart the gap between perfusion and anoxia would be even narrower.