Ventriculocisternal Perfusion as a Technique for Studying Transport and Metabolism Within the Brain

Abstract

Ventriculocisternal (VC) perfusions were first performed by Leusen (1948, 1950) in work on the influence of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cations on the vasomotor system of anesthetized dogs. Feldberg and his group in London modified Leusen’s procedure and used it to examine the effects of drugs on cerebrospinal fluid flow and composition in cats (Bhattacharya and Feldberg, 1958a, b; Feldberg and Sherwood, 1954). In the first quantitative studies with the VC perfusion technique, Pappenheimer and co-workers (Heisey et al., 1962; Pappenheimer et al, 1961, 1962) examined the dynamics of CSF formation and the molecular exchange of material in the cerebrospinal fluid system of unanesthetized goats. Their application of the technique and equations for the kinetics of transport in the perfused ventricular system were subsequently adopted by many other investigators interested in CSF physiology and pharmacology. In an attempt to determine the size of the brain extracellular space (ECS), Rall et al. (1962) performed VC perfusions on dogs and, at the conclusion of the perfusion, serially sampled the periventricular tissue. Their results demonstrated that there is a sizable ECS in the brain and suggested that a more accurate assessment of CSF-brain exchange could be made by including tissue sampling as a part of the technique. Since the work of Rall et al., there have been no basic changes or additions to the VC perfusion methodology.