Measurement of Blood Flow in Adipose Tissue from the Washout of Xenon-133 after Atraumatic Labelling

The experiments were performed on isolated, autoperfused subcutaneous tissue in urethane-anesthetized female rabbits. Directly recorded blood from adipose tissue averaged 6.6 ml/100 g-min (S. D. 4.2, 11 expts.). The blood flow calculated from the washout of Xenon-133 with an average partition coefficient on 11.8 (ml/g) was 7.4 ml/100 g-min (S. D. 5.3, 11 expts.). A direct proportionality was found between blood flow in adipose tissue calculated from the washout of Xenon-133 and directly recorded blood flow. The coefficient of correlation was 0.995 (p < 0.001). When blood flow was constant during the experiments, the washout curves were monoexponential. In the preparation used, the adipose tissue appears to have homogeneous distribution of blood flow and it is likely that diffusion equilibrium of the highly diffusible, inert gases exists between adipose tissue and blood during the washout. The discussion contains a survey of the recently found values of blood flow in adipose tissue obtained with different techniques.