Non-Radioactive Microspheres
for
Regional Blood Flow
Determination
Microsphere brochure
Microsphere Bibliography (. pdf file)
Worldwide Distributors
Radioactive microspheres
have been used for many years as the standard for measuring regional blood flow
distribution in animal research models. Radioactive microspheres have many
negative health, safety and
environmental issues associated with their use.
Triton Technology offers
a variety of non-radioactive tracer microspheres for determination of
regional blood
flow distribution and particle deposition . Uniform-sized
tracer microspheres are made of stable polystyrene
latex cross-linked with
DVB. These microspheres are marked with one of several unique families of
markers
and used to measure regional blood flow at different time points during
the course of an experiment. Typically
blood flow measurements are made
using 15um diameter microspheres. Occasionally 10um microspheres are
also used
for blood flow applications. Various other sizes of tracer
microspheres are available for other
applications in a range of sizes from 3 to
100um. Please examine the various options below to determine the
type which suits your needs. Please contact Triton Technology by e-mail (triton2@Triton-Technology.com)
if you have
questions.
Dye-TrakŪ
absorbance-dyed microspheres are a safe new non-radioactive method of measuring regional
blood flow in
experimental preparations. Polystyrene microspheres of highly uniform diameter are
precision
dyed with one a number of possible colors (5 to 7). Original Dye-Trak
offers five colors and the newer
Dye-Trak VII+ offers seven colors. Using an injection of Dye-TrakŪ
spheres
into a local end-organ perfusion
line or the left atrium, regional blood flow can be determined. The
spheres are recovered from tissue and blood
samples by digestion and subsequent centrifugation or micro-filtration. The dyes are then eluted from the
recovered microspheres with a known volume of a
solvent and the dye concentrations are determined by
spectrophotometry. The separation of a
composite absorbance spectrum using the Dye-TrakŪ method is as
accurate as the separation
of energy spectra using the radioactive microsphere technique. Dye-TrakŪ
measurement of
regional blood flow yields the same values as with radioactive microspheres, without the
difficulties associated with radioactivity. Dye-TrakŪ is available in two
variations: the original 5-color palette
and a recently developed Dye-Trak
VII+
7-color palette. The recommended colors to use for a given
number
of injections is listed in a Color Progression Table.
While the original dye-Trak colors are still available we are
recommending that
new users use Dye-Trak VII+ for their experiments. Dye-TrakŪ microspheres are
manufactured by Triton
Technology under our patents
5,230,343 and 5,253,649.
Dye-Trak 'F' and FluoSpheres Ū
fluorescent microspheres offer high sensitivity
measurement of
regional blood flow determination quantified by fluorescence spectrofluorometry.
Using an injection of
fluorescent microspheres into a local end-organ perfusion line or the left atrium, regional blood flow can be
determined. The
spheres are recovered from tissue and blood samples by digestion and subsequent
centrifugation or micro-filtration. The dyes are then eluted from the recovered microspheres
with a known
volume of a
solvent and the dye concentrations determined by fluorescence spectrophotometry. The separation
of a
composite emission spectrum using the fluorescent microsphere method is as accurate as the separation
of
energy spectra using the radioactive microsphere technique. This method offers great sensitivity for low flow
situations and a wide range of
markers for multiple measurements. Dye-Trak 'F'
micropspheres are
manufactured by Triton Technology and FluoSpheresŪ are
manufactured by Molecular Probes
under license of Triton Technology patents 5,230,343 and 5,253,649.
BioPAL Neutron-Activated
Microspheres
For information on BioPAL microspheres contact Triton
Technology:
858-272-1251
Copyright 1995-2000 Triton Technology, Inc.
Updated June19, 2006
Address any comments and suggestions to: Webmaster <triton2@cts.com>