Partition Coefficient of ¹³³Xenon between Various Tissues and Blood in Vivo

Abstract

Andersen, Anne Marie & Ladefoged, J. Partition Coefficient of ¹³³Xenon between Various Tissues and Blood in Vivo. Scand. J. clin. Lab. Invest. 19 72–78, 1967. In vivo studies were made on equilibrium distribution of ¹³³xenon in various organs of the rat and rabbit. The partition coefficients tissue: blood for most of the tissues were about 0.7 (range 0.58 [skeletal muscle] to 0.79 [thymus]) with a value of 8.0–9.8 for fat tissue as the only exception. A positive, but statistically insignificant correlation between the partition coefficients and the fatty acid content in the tissues (excluding fat tissue) was found. Simultaneous measurements of the desaturation rates of ¹³³xenon and of ⁸⁵krypton from the kidneys in rabbits and man were carried out. In rabbits the two clearance constants were converted to blood flow data by multiplication with the partition coefficients. The mean ratio between the two sets of blood flow values was 1.03, which is not statistically different from one.

In man the mean ratio between the clearance constants for the two gases were 0.77, which agrees with the ratio between the partition coefficients for the two gases from animal experiments.