Regional cerebral blood flow in the newborn beagle pup: the germinal matrix is a "low-flow" structure

The newborn beagle pup serves as a model for neonatal intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH). Fluctuations in germinal matrix blood flow are left to play a major role in the pathogenesis of IVH. We studied regional cerebral blood flow in awake newborn beagle pups utilizing [14C]-iodoantipyrine as a blood flow indicator and quantitative autoradiography. The equilibrium [tissue]:[blood] partition coefficient for iodoantipyrine was 1.13 +/- .06 for grey matter. Blood flow was calculated for cerebral cortex (frontal = 59 +/- 9 ml/100 g/min), 14 subcortical nuclear structures (e.g., caudate = 45 +/- 6 ml/100 g/min), 3 white matter structure (centrum semiovale = 7 +/- 1 ml/100 g/min), and germinal matrix (7 +/- 1 ml/100 g/min) (mean +/- S.E.). We conclude that under normal physiologic conditions the germinal matrix receives relatively low blood flow. This information can be used for comparison with germinal matrix blood flow during adverse experimental conditions.