Simultaneous measurement of blood flow and glucose metabolism by autoradiographic techniques

A double tracer autoradiographic technique using 131I-iodo-antipyrine and 14C-deoxyglucose is presented for the simultaneous measurement of blood flow and cerebral glucose utilization in the same animal. 131I is a gamma emitting isotope with a half life of 8.06 days and can be detected with adequate resolution on standard autoradiographic films. Autoradiograms are made before and after decay of 131I; the time interval between the 2 exposures and the concentration of the 2 tracers is adjusted to avoid significant cross-contamination. In this way, 2 film exposures are obtained which can be processed quantitatively like single tracer autoradiograms. The validity of the method for the investigation of local coupling of flow and metabolism was tested under various physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Coupling was tight in barbiturate-anesthetized healthy animals, but not under halothane anesthesia where uncoupling occurred in various subcortical structures. Focal seizures induced by topical application of penicillin on the cortical surface led to a coupled increase of metabolism and flow in thalamic relay nuclei but not at the site of penicillin administration where increased glucose utilization was not accompanied by similar increase in blood flow. Both coupled and uncoupled increases in local glucose utilization were observed in spreading depression and in circumscribed areas of experimental brain tumors. The results obtained demonstrate that double tracer autoradiography allows allows the very precise local assessment of cerebral blood flow and glucose utilization, and, therefore, is particularly suited to the study of regional coupling processes under various experimental conditions.