The effects of extreme hemodilutions on the autoregulation of cerebral blood flow, electroencephalogram and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen in the dog.

The effects of profound (hematocrit value, Ht 20%) and extreme (Ht 5%) hemodilutions on the relationship between the mean arterial pressure (MAP) and the cerebral blood flow (CBF) were studied in pentobarbital-anesthetized dogs. A regression line was found between the CBF and Ht values during normotensive hemodilution (MAP 100 torr): CBF (ml/100g X min) = -98.9 log Ht (%) + 195.5 (p less than 0.001). The CBF was increased by hemodilution, but the range of its autoregulation was narrowed, suggesting a progressive susceptibility of CBF to blood pressure with hemodilution. The electroencephalogram (EEG) was not significantly changed by hemodilution within the range of the CBF autoregulation, below which it became slowed. In contrast, the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRo2) was decreased by hemodilution even within the range of the CBF autoregulation, while there were no significant differences in CMRo2 values between MAPs of 100 and 40 torr. Thus, the brain function in terms of the EEG seemed to correlate more with the autoregulatory mechanism of the CBF than with the CMRo2 value in the hemodiluted states.