MEASUREMENT OF FLOW-RATES THROUGH AORTIC BRANCHES IN THE ANESTHETIZEDRABBIT

The volumetric Wow Fates, meals and pulsatile, in the aorta and its ma jor branches mere measured in nonfed, anesthetized rabbits, using a tr ansit time Doppler ultrasonic flowmeter, Anesthesia was maintained wit h isoflurane, and a vasodilator was applied topically during the measu rements to avoid introducing additional flow resistance due to vasocon striction, The cranial mesenteric and celiac arteries received the bul k of the aortic flow, (mean+/-SD) 29.5+/-6.6% and 25.3+/-5.8%, respect ively, for mean flow. The brachiocephalic artery received as much as 1 4.7+/-3.2%, while each of the ether branches received a considerably s maller fraction: 7.1+/-2.5% for the left subclavian artery, 6.2+/-2.6% and 5.1+/-2.2%, respectively, for the Fight and left renal arteries, and 6.0+/-2.5% for each of the two iliac arteries, Flow divisions were nearly the same in paired vessels, Peak pulsatile Wow divisions were similar to their steady Plow counterparts in the brachiocephalic, left subclavian, celiac, and cranial mesenteric arteries, but were smaller in the renal and iliac arteries, although the difference was mot stat istically significant, Reverse flow from one or more of the branches b ack into the aorta occurred in diastole in seven of eight rabbits stud ied.