In vivo 19F-NMR study of halothane distribution in brain.

Halothane distribution and elimination from rabbit brain was studied in vivo using 19F-NMR spectroscopy. Two exponential decay functions for the anesthetic were observed in the clearance curve. They are assigned to halothane in brain held in two distinct chemical environments characterized by different chemical shifts, and half-lives (25 and 320 min). A nonvolatile halothane metabolite with a half-life of several days was found to be present in rabbit brains. The in vivo results were corroborated by ex vivo experiments on excised brain tissue. Halothane was distributed in all of the major cell subfractions, whereas the metabolite was present predominantly in the cytoplasm.

In vivo 19F-NMR study of isoflurane elimination from brain.

The time course of isoflurane elimination from rabbit brain was studied in vivo with 19F-NMR spectroscopy. Two exponential decay functions with different time constants were observed and assigned to two distinct brain compartments. Isoflurane has a 26 min time constant for one compartment (similar to a value of 25 min with halothane) but 174 min in the second one, compared with 320 min for halothane. The shorter half-life for isoflurane may be due to lower solubility of this agent in brain tissue. Comparison of isoflurane 19F chemical shifts in solvents in isolated brain lipids and in whole brain tissue indicates that the anesthetic present in the brain exists in a single environment (on the NMR time scale), which is a weighted average of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic environments.