Continuous measurement of gas partial pressures in intracerebral tissue

A mass spectrograph technique has been developed for measurement of physiological gas partial pressures locally in the brain. The sampling cannula is implanted stereotaxically and remains in situ for several weeks. It is a thin cylinder in shape, and is covered with a thin polyethylene membrane across which gas molecules can be sampled continuously. The conductance of this membrane is well adapted to the limited rate of replacement of gas molecules afforded by the cerebral tissue, hence there is no depletion around the cannula; this depletion has until now been the major problem of this technology. The present technique provides a continuous measurement with fast response time, which is directly proportional to the partial pressures of the gases. The variations can be expressed as a percentage of the base-line value.