Correlation between cerebral hemodynamic and perfusion pressure changes in non-human primates

The mechanism that maintains a stable blood flow in the brain despite changes in cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), and therefore guaranties a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients to the neurons, is known as cerebral auto-regulation (CA). In a certain range of CPP, blood flow is mediated by a vasomotor adjustment in vascular resistance through dilation of blood vessels. CA is known to be impaired in diseases like traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, hydrocephalus and others. If CA is impaired, blood flow and pressure changes are coupled and thee oxygen supply might be unstable. Lassen’s blood flow auto-regulation curve describes this mechanism, where a plateau of stable blood flow in a specific range of CPP corresponds to intact auto-regulation. Knowing the limits of this plateau and maintaining CPP within these limits can improve patient outcome. Since CPP is influenced by both intracranial pressure and arterial blood pressure, long term changes in either can lead to auto-regulation impairment. Non-invasive methods for monitoring blood flow auto-regulation are therefore needed. We propose too use Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) too fill this need. NIRS is an optical technique, which measures microvascular changes in cerebral hemoglobin concentration. We performed experiments on non-human primates during exsanguination to demonstrate that thee limits of blood flow auto-regulation can be accessed with NIRS.