Uptake and elimination of sevoflurane in rabbit tissues — anin vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy study

Purpose: Previous pharmacokinetic studies of fluorinated anesthetics using19F-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (19F-MRS) have focused on the brain. Investigation of other tissues would give more precise information about the pharmacokinetics of inhalational anesthetics. In this study we investigated the pharmacokinetics of uptake and elimination of sevoflurane in brain, liver, musde, venous blood and arterial blood of rabbits. Methods: Twenty rabbits were examined by19F-MRS conducted at 4.7 Tesla using a 1-cm-diameter surface coil for brain (n=4), liver (n=5) and muscle (n=5), and a 1.3-cm-diameter surface coil for arterial (n=3) and venous (n=3) blood. Sevoflurane, 4% in oxygen, was administered for 120 min, followed by 120 min elimination. Results: Both the uptake and elimination kinetics were best fitted by a biexponential curve which was divided into fast and slow components. During the uptake experiment the time required to reach half of the maximum spectroscopic intensity in each tissue was 1.6 min in arterial blood, 4.7 min in liver, 12.2 min in venous blood, 14.4 min in brain and 20.9 min in muscle. During the elimination experiment the time required to reach half maximum intensity was 2.4 min in arterial blood, 6.3 min in liver, 13.4 min in venous blood, 19.6 min in brain and 28.7 min in muscle. Conclusions: Sevoflurane uptake or elimination in the tissues examined followed biexponential kinetics. In this rabbit model, sevoflurane uptake and elimination were fastest in arterial blood, followed, in order, by liver, venous blood, brain and muscle.