Transport of inert gases in mammalian myocardium: comparison with a convection-diffusion model

Because tracer techniques are gaining an increasing importance for imaging flow (and metabolism) in the heart, experimental evidence is needed on the role of convection and diffusion in the transcoronary transport of solutes. In the present work, the transport of four different inert gases through the coronary system is studied in five closed-chest dog experiments and is compared with a digital multicapillary convection-diffusion model. Transport may be defined as flow dependent, as judged by the gross similarity of shape of the time-normalized dilution curves. However, the results show that the transcoronary transport of helium and xenon is more dispersed than that of argon and krypton, probably because of differences in diffusibility and solubility. A comparison of the animal and model experiments emphasizes the importance of diffusive transport of the gases. It is suggested that there is a diffusion shunt that is mainly located within the capillary network itself rather than between conduit vessels. Only for helium (which has the highest diffusivity) was a small arteriovenous shunt fraction seen that is thought to bypass the capillary exchange region. The conclusion is that although there is evidence of diffusional shunting at a capillary level, the inert gas kinetics in the heart are compatible with a basically flow-limited transport.