Extracellular space of swine aorta measured with [14C]inulin and [14C]sucrose

Measurements of the extracellular space (ECS) of the isolated swine thoracic aorta were performed with both [14C]inulin and transient measurements and appeared to have better access to available tissue water than the [14C]sucrose gave more consistent results in available tissue water than the [14C]inulin. With [14C]sucrose as the tracer, no significant difference in the ECS was found when the tissue was incubated for 1.5 h in the presence of oxygen and glucose as compared to an incubation in which both oxygen and glucose were absent. However, the ion contents were markedly altered by this change in incubation medium. When oxygen and glucose were present tissue K+ was significantly higher and tissue Na+ was significantly lower than when these metabolites were deleted from the medium. Thus, significant alteration in ion content did not lead to substantial cell damage or bursting.