Intravascular fluorocarbon-stabilized microbubbles protect against fatal anemia in rats.

It has earlier been hypothesized that intravascular microbubbles, derived from a dodecafluoropentane (DDFP) emulsion, can transport physiologically significant amounts of oxygen in the animal body. To test this notion, anesthetized oxygen breathing rats were rendered severely anemic by bleeding and volume replacement. Rats treated with 0.014 ml/kg of DDFP in a 2% emulsion had normal circulatory parameters and behaved normally when waking up from anesthesia while controls died during anesthesia. Oxygen-breathing intact rats given 0.01 ml/kg of DDFP had muscle oxygen tensions which, for about 2.5 hours, exceeded those of controls by 50-100%. It was further verified in vitro that DDFP-derived microbubbles can exchange oxygen with a surrounding aqueous medium. Extrapolation from these experiments indicates that less than 1 ml of DDFP, in emulsion-form, could provide for the resting oxygen consumption of an adult person. This suggests various therapeutic uses of the emulsion.