A method for continuously assessing coronary blood flow velocity in the rat

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Abstract
A directional pulsed-Doppler system was developed to make blood flow velocity measurements in the coronary arteries of the rat. The probe consists of a 1 mm2 crystal mounted in a 6 mm suction cup, which can be attached by vacuum to the vessel without requiring dissection. Recordings of phasic coronary blood flow velocity (CBV) in the rat indicate that 82 .+-. 2% (mean .+-. SE) of the area under the CBV recording occurs in diastole. CBV increased during an infusion of dipyridamole and changed in parallel with alterations in left-ventricular pressure. To validate the technique changes in CBV were correlated with changes in microsphere-measured left-ventricular perfusion (range, 20-780 ml/min .times. 100 g). These 2 methods of estimating coronary flow correlated closely (r = 0.93). Measurements of phasic CBV in the rat with this Doppler system should permit a detailed characterization of the coronary circulation in many models of disease that developed in the rat.

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