Determination and prediction of tissue-gas partition coefficients.

The head space method for determination of tissue-gas partition coefficients was modified to make it suitable for determination of tissue-gas partition coefficients of water soluble solvents. The method was used to determine tissue-gas partition coefficients of acetone, 2-butanone, methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol and isobutanol for six representative tissues (muscle, kidney, lung, white and gray matter of brain, and adipose tissue). Blood-gas partition coefficients and distribution between plasma and erythrocytes were also determined. Relation between tissue-blood and fat-blood partition coefficients of 35 hydrophilic and hydrophobic substances of different chemical structure is described by linear correlation equations which can be used for prediction of tissue-gas partition coefficients of any chemical for which blood-gas and fat-gas partition coefficients are known. The correlation equations are based on all currently available data.