Measurement of blood flow in rat liver with Xenon-133

The blood flow in rat liver was measured with Xe-133. Three techniques for administering the activity to the liver were employed: injection via the portal vein, via the hepatic artery, and directly into the liver parenchyma. Use of intraparenchymal injection of Xe-133 gave 60% higher flow values than by portal or arterial injection techniques. Mean flow index (k1) was for portal injection 0.52, for arterial injection 0.51 and for intraparenchymal injection 0.80. These variations may be explained by the microcirculatory anatomy of the rat liver. The data presented have a high degree of variance between repeated experiments on the same animal. During an experimental procedure, only larger changes in the liver blood flow pattern can be detected with sufficient accuracy. For this purpose, the method is applicable since repeated and regional studies on the same organ can easily be performed.