Effect of cerebrospinal fluid removal on cerebral blood flow and metabolism in the baboon: influence of tyrosine infusion and cerebral embolism on cerebrospinal fluid pressure autoregulation.

Cerebral blood flow (CBF) and metabolism were measured before and after withdrawal of 5 to 6 ml of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 17 baboons. The measurements were made before and after infusion of tyrosine, the precursor amino acid of the putative neurotransmitters, dopamine and norepinephrine, in the brain. The same observations were made in another experimental group, i.e., before and after acute cerebral multiembolization induced by microfil emboli. In the steady state CBF was unaltered following reduction of intracranial pressure by removal of CSF. After infusion of tyrosine, CBF was decreased, and cerebrovascular resistance increased significantly on removal of CSF. Cerebral embolization did not influence changes in CBF at reduced intracranial pressure. It appears that the cerebral resistance vessels constrict following reduction of intracranial pressure by removal of CSF and that cerebrospinal fluid pressure-CBF autoregulatory mechanisms are resistant to cerebral ischemia induced by middle cerebral artery embolization.