PO2-profiles in hippocampal slices of the guinea pig

Summary For a detailed analysis of the oxygen supply of hippocampal slices, tissue PO₂ (P_t,o2) was recorded polarographically in the neural layers of thick and thin slice preparations from the guinea pig. The experiments showed that the P_t,o₂-gradients were extremely steep in the outer zones of vital slices. In an air equilibrated salt solution the surface PO₂ was reduced to less than 50% within ca. 25 m. Minimum values were measured at a depth of ca. 150 m. A rise of temperature lowered the oxygen supply in the deeper layers of the excised tissue. An elevation of the surface PO₂ hardly improved P_t,o2 in the deep structures, because the O₂-consumption of the hippocampal slices increased with rising PO₂.Supported by DFG (Sp 108/6)Dedicated to Professor Dr. H. Caspers on the occasion of his 60th birthday