The effect of dissolved oxygen on the susceptibility of blood

Purpose: It has been predicted that, during hyperoxia, excess O2 dissolved in arterial blood will significantly alter the blood's magnetic susceptibility. This would confound the interpretation of the hyperoxia-induced blood oxygenation level-dependent signal as arising solely from changes in deoxyhemoglobin. This study, therefore, aimed to determine how dissolved O2 affects the susceptibility of blood.

Theory and methods: We present a comprehensive model for the effect of dissolved O2 on the susceptibility of blood and compare it with another recently published model, referred to here as the ideal gas model (IGM). For validation, distilled water and samples of bovine plasma were oxygenated over a range of hyperoxic O2 concentrations and their susceptibilities were determined using multiecho gradient echo phase imaging.

Results: In distilled water and plasma, the measured changes in susceptibility were very linear, with identical slopes of 0.062 ppb/mm Hg of O2. This change was dramatically less than previously predicted using the IGM and was close to that predicted by our model. The primary source of error in the IGM is the overestimation of the volume fraction occupied by dissolved O2.

Conclusion: Under most physiological conditions, the susceptibility of dissolved O2 can be disregarded in MRI studies employing hyperoxia.