The average cerebral blood flow in humans is approximately 55 mL per 100 g of brain tissue per minute. This is a little over 700 mL/min for a 1350-g brain. Thus while the human brain comprises only about 2.5 percent of the body's weight, it receives almost 15 percent of the cardiac output, attesting to the high vascular demands of this organ.
A reliable and frequently used method of determining cerebral blood flow is the method of Kety and Schmidt. It is based on the Fick principle and utilizes the arteriovenous difference of a freely diffusible gas such as N2O as it passes through the brain. Accordingly, the flow of blood through the brain can be determined by measuring the amount of N2O removed from the blood by the brain per minute and dividing this by the arteriovenous difference of N2O as it passes through the brain. The cerebral blood flow is higher in children than in adults, typically exceeding 100 mL per 100 g per minute. However, contrary to popular thinking, the blood flow decreases only slightly with advancing age. The brain utilizes fully 25 percent of the body's total oxygen consumption. The arteriovenous O2 difference is relatively high since the brain receives only 15 percent of the cardiac output. The arteriovenous difference is 6.6 mL per 100 ml., falling from 19.6 to 13 mL per 100 mL as blood passes through the brain (Fig. 17-2). Thus we can calculate a cerebral oxygen consumption of approximately 3.5 mL per 100 g per minute. This value is greater in skeletal muscle, skin. and liver. but less in cardiac muscle and kidney